


you are my getaway

by Star_less



Series: you are my getaway [1]
Category: Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: (like a tiny bit), Anxiety, Camping, Complete, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dialogue Heavy, Dissociation, F/F, First Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff without Plot, French Kissing, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Mental Health Issues, Minor Plot Spoilers, Omorashi, Post-Canon, Road Trips, Slice of Life, Vomiting, a chapter fic that shouldn't be a chapter fic, again more shameless fluff, bea cries, just to warn u, mae cries, maebea, what is a relationship without some sobbing?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-16 18:57:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10577460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_less/pseuds/Star_less
Summary: Mae and Bea are heading out on a 'road trip'... or at least, a weekend getaway. Getting out of Possum Springs seems, in theory, to be the girls' favourite idea - but when they're out on the road, things get... a little off track.And yet, as the new couple soon realise, things go perfectly right too.





	1. getaway

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyyyy guys ~ I didn't expect this to be so soon but here I am again!!  
> This mini series was actually intended to only be (at most) 3000 words long, so I could chuck it up here as a oneshot. No. That did not happen. This fic is twenty pages long and at least 11,500 words (roughly) -- so I decided to split it up into some chunky chapters, so it's easy to read. It might seem a little wonky in places. There may be some triggering events later, but I totally promise that I'll make a note of them in these bits. 
> 
> \- chlo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 1 of Mae and Bea's getaway. Surprises, snark and sobs.

“What in the fuck, Beatrice. What. In. The… Fuck.”

Bea shrugged, sighed out curls of smoke and hopped down, giving Mae a cool and assured smirk, her cigarette balancing between two pointed teeth. “You said you wanted a roadtrip.”

“In your car!” Mae whined, “Not… not - whatever this is!”

Bea was standing in front of a slightly battered RV - a slight battered RV that she had proudly parked outside of Mae’s house. Mae, who had been teetering in the wind atop the power lines outside her house, had watched as the rattling piece of crud chugged up the hill to her place. From the high driver’s seat sat her girlfriend, Beatrice Santello - who was smirking like royalty. Instantly, Mae scrambled down, slipping through the leafy tree and landing in a heap directly beside the RV, slowly absorbing the true horror of the vehicle.  
The paint was pale and peeling, there were rust marks, mud spattered in the grooves and ridges of one wheel. A large, peeling sticker on the side of the vehicle exclaimed, _‘Ol Pickaxe. You nix it we fix it!’_

Cringe.

Mae stared up with equal horror and fascination at the rust bucket stood majestically in front of them. 

Bea, on the flipside, was entirely unfazed. She puffed on her cig, leaning against the battered vehicle. Kicking gravel, slipping her cig into her right hand, she spoke up.“My car’s out of bounds, Maeday.” Bea murmured, her eyes slanting slyly. “Besides. This one’s better. Go look.”

Mae stepped hesitantly toward the vehicle, still looking up at it with awed horror. “Are you totally - 100% sure - Beatrice, that we aren’t going to explode halfway down the highway?”

“Potential death. All part of the fun, Mae.” Bea gave Mae a toothy grin as she stubbed her cigarette out under the RV’s wheel, moving to the side and leaving the doorway free. “Look.” She urged, opening the side compartment of the RV and moving to place Mae’s suitcase inside it. 

Mae sighed, stepping up into the RV. Dust caught in her nose, tickled at her whiskers, but she fought it and moved inside. A bed, a radio, a steering wheel. A shitty little table and curtains that looked like Grandma Borowski’s knitting from Ye Olden Days. What was the big deal? It was just some big car from the 1980s. Hell, one of them was probably conceived in a shitty old RV like this. Ew. “Big whoop, Beatrice. A big car.” Mae drawled.

“Hip hip.” Bea agreed, smirking as she stepped forward, standing in the doorway of the vehicle. This response earned Bea a playful eyeroll.

It was only after Mae had drifted around the cramped space enough that she realised one thing. “Where’s the bathroom?”  
She whirled around, teetering on her haunches. Her voice was filled with a mix of suspicion and dread. She squinted unhappily at Bea, already subconsciously knowing the answer. As if on cue, she gave a tiny squirming wriggle; but that was just her mind playing tricks on her.

Bea offered her a crooked smile of apology and sighed. “There isn’t one. The Ol’ Pickaxe’s budget didn’t stretch that far. You’ll be alright, though. I’ll make sure to stop as much as I can. But… yeah, you might have to go al-fresco.”

Mae squinted even harder at this concept, her brow furrowing in confusion. “Al… Bea, what does pasta have to do with this?” She asked, eyes wide and puzzled. The questioning look lingered, especially when Bea facepalmed and gently explained, “Not Alfredo. Al-fresco. Means, you know. Being one with nature.”  
“Being one with nature by peeing on their trees?” Mae asked skeptically.  
Bea nodded. “Exactly.”  
Mae was satisfied with this explanation. Sure, peeing on trees was a liiiittle bit gross, but as Granddad always said, _‘ya gotta do what ya gotta do, kitten!’_  
Shrugging, the feline went back to her careful exploration. It didn’t take long before she realised the second problem. “There’s just one couch.” She told Bea, her voice soft and confused. Something - _nerves? Worry?_ \- began gnawing at her tummy. _Did… did this mean what Mae thought it meant? But… they were so early into their relationship… had she pressured Bea into it—? she didn’t think Bea wanted to—_

“Yes, there’s one couch. I know.” Bea said. Her voice was slow and measured. Mae knew that if Bea was talking to anyone but her, she would have much less patience. Mae slowly sat on the couch, wriggling into it. The springs squeaked very slightly as she did so; but the couch seemed very bouncy and cosy. 

“But…” the cat began slowly, even though she had already pieced together what was going to happen, “If I sleep here… where are you going to sleep?” She asked at last. Bea smiled, satisfied. She stepped over to the couch and cuddled up slightly, nuzzling Mae’s shoulder for a moment. “Right here with you, Mae.”Mae noticed that her voice was soft and caring, but a tiny bit teasing too. She then noticed that the nerves in her tummy had transformed to butterflies. 

“Come on.” Bea said with finality, her voice soft. “We’ve got a road trip to head out on, Margaret.” 

“Beatrice.” Mae scoffed, bristling visibly at hearing her full name. She watched Bea settle into the drivers’ seat and hesitated, lingering there before settling into the seat next to the reptile. They clicked their seat-belts on at exactly the same moment - smiled at one another - and Bea revved the engine. Mae could feel it purring warmly underneath her.

“Where we off to, kitten?” Bea murmured, setting the RV into drive and easing off from outside Mae’s house.  
Mae looked out of the window, feeling her stomach grow queasy as her house disappeared from view, blotting into a smaller and smaller dot. Not even Bea’s nickname, which usually caused butterflies, quelled her worry. “I don’t know..” Mae spoke slowly, reminding herself that she had hugged and kissed her parents and given them a proper goodbye, she had promised Gregg and Angus she’d bring gifts back, and she’d been promised that Bea would help her through any disassociation. Finally, once her familiar home had disappeared entirely from view, she looked back toward the windscreen. 

“Anywhere but Possum Springs.”

“Mmkay. I have an idea.” Bea nodded. 

Mae reached out and flicked on the radio, letting the tunes and jingles drown out her queasiness.  
~

After that, Mae and Bea talked. Talked, and talked, and talked - until the sour ball of worry in Mae’s tummy had shrivelled to nothing. Roads unwound before them as they seemed to talk Possum Springs out of existence. Neither girl could help it; Bea loved how attentive and interested Mae was, eating up her every word with wide, bright eyes. Mae just loved listening to Bea speak. Her words were gentle and she talked about anything and everything she could think of in between breaks for a cigarette, puffing gentle smoke out of the window.

Mae watched her after the third puff, thoughtful. “Reminds me of being little.” She mused.  
The crocodile squinted, tapping the cig out and looking at Mae questioningly, her head tilted. “…What?”

“This.” Mae stretched upwards, waving her paws at the RV, the roads ahead, the roads behind. “Reminds me of being on road trips when I was a little kid.”

“Ohh..” Bea nodded. “Yeah. Used to have camp-outs with my parents when I was young.” the crocodile murmured thoughtfully. 

It went quiet for a little while after that, and an atmosphere grew between them. Mae watched the reptile carefully, seeing her eyes glinting with gentle tears as she continued to smoke and think.

“Are… you okay, Bea?” Mae hesitated. She crept closer to Bea and snuggled in slightly.  
Bea was tense - even Mae could feel that. The reptile desperately wanted to snap back at Mae. _No, you idiot, of course I’m not okay. Do I look okay? Have you finally understood I’m not okay?!_ \- But, she didn’t. Even though the words were there on the edge of her tongue, sharp and sour, Bea refused. She didn’t want to hurt Mae. She loved her too much to do that. Instead, she swallowed her words.  
“Yeah, I’m fine, Maeday.” Bea sniffed.  
Her voice came out raspier than usual, all raw and tight and alien. “Just… miss those days. Was so happy. No stress. Now it’s just… stress. Fucking… stress. Work. No Mom.”

She had pulled Mae closer to her, nestling into the warm comfort of Mae’s fur. 

Mae flustered slightly at this admission, clearly fumbling over her words. “Well… I, um. I’m here. And, and you're not working. So… that’s what this is all about, right? Ignoring stress and making memories. With the person you love.”

Bea laughed suddenly. Her laugh hiccupped out and made her sound a little too vulnerable for her liking. “Thank you for trying, Maeday.” She murmured. 

Not getting the reaction she wanted, Mae frowned, pressing again. “S’true, though, right?”

Bea sighed at the steering wheel, a grin slowly spreading out over her face. _Goddamnit, Mae Borowski._ Mae had that effect on people. She could always leave them with a smile. Bea loved that about her. If she could bottle that skill up and keep it close, she would. 

“I’m finally getting out of Possum Springs, with you. If this isn’t ‘making memories with the person I love’, I don’t know what is.”

Mae purred happily, her eyes closing contentedly. 

Bea had pulled herself together enough to continue on, so on they went. “If you ever make me say some soppy shit like that again, I will divorce you.” She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.  
Her feline girlfriend cracked one eye open and shifted upwards in her seat. 

“We aren’t even married yet.”

“Still. I’ll marry you just to divorce you.” 

“Noted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are my favourite. 
> 
> Throughout this series, I wrote each chapter while listening to songs. Not intentionally, but since I wrote this in college/in bed/in the car, that's just what happened! So for every chapter, there will be a Lovey Dovey Song. Because I love Lovey Dovey Songs, man.
> 
> Chapter 1 Song: Disconnected, by 5 Seconds of Summer


	2. campfire fireflies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Bea shrugged cheekily, concentrating on puffing her cigarette. “Naw.” She coughed out at last, studying the glowing feline with adoration in her eyes. “Maybe it’s just because you’re a magical person, Mae Borowski.”_
> 
>  
> 
> Mae and Bea camp out for the night; a night under the stars with eachother for company, and a fire. In the woods. Where they may get murdered. Who said romance was dead?

It went peacefully quiet again for a few more roads. Possum Springs’ blustery little town finally began to fall apart. The highway gave way, the buildings and roads slowly disappeared, morphing into countryside. The road was wide and dusty and the only thing that made the route seem alive were the clusters of pansies and rose bushes that sat themselves along the roadside.

“When we were on road trips we always had s’mores.” Bea reflected, coming to a roundabout.

“I’ve never had s’mores.” Mae admitted bashfully, scratching the back of her neck. Pulling up to a red light, Bea’s eyes widened in shock as she looked toward her small girlfriend. “Never?”

“The Borowski’s are a hotdog-and-marshmallow family.” Mae mused. “Not together. But. Yeah. Never.”

“Oh, I’m changing that right now, Mae Borowski. Do you know where the nearest superstore is?”

Mae flushed instantly at the idea, her entire face feeling hot. “Uh..” She paused, looking over her phone. “GPS says there’s a Snack Parrot about four blocks away.” She murmured.  
Bea nodded. “Okay, how do you fancy a camp-out for tonight?” The reptile gave her signature toothy grin and those teasing eyes that Mae loved so much.

A camp out…?  
A slow smile spread over Mae’s face until she was beaming ear to ear. Excitement fizzled like an aspirin deep in her belly. “Aw, yeah!” She grinned. “Where?”

“That’s a secret, Maeday.” Bea teased, her grin widening as Mae drooped, playfully scowling at her. “Beebee.. keeping secrets like this from your girlfriend is a criiiime.” She whined. 

Pulling the car into drive, Bea shrugged. “I’m sure the cops’ll be on my ass in twenty, Maeday.” She grinned, swiftly disappearing into the Snack Parrot. She swayed as she walked - as if she was teasing Mae - leaving the feline scowling at her ass until she had well and truly disappeared.  
~

“Catch.”

Bea grinned toothily, throwing a pillowy bag of marshmallows in Mae’s direction. Not expecting this pillowy attack, Mae’s ears flattened against her head and she nearly yowled in shock. Her cat-like reflexes sent her rapidly gripping for the bag, and she narrowly caught it on her lap. She yelped, “Beatrice!”

“Marshmallows.” Bea shrugged. “I’ve got the Graham crackers and the chocolate. No nibbles.”

Mae gasped. “C’mon, Bea… one nibble?” She pleaded, slyly slanting her eyes. 

“No nibbles.” Bea said firmly, pecking Mae’s pouting lips quickly as some sort of compromise. After stashing the chocolate, crackers and marshmallows into the holdall in the back seat, Bea set off again.  
~

It was nighttime by the time Mae and Bea reached Bea’s desired destination. Watching the clouds drift into darkness was tiring work. Silver-headed stars emerged from behind dusty clouds late at night; 9pm. After almost an entire day of travelling in this dingy little RV, Mae had fallen asleep. She murmured and purred to herself before slumping low in her seat and letting sleep overtake her. 

“And that was when Angus…” Bea’s voice was raspy but slow, in the midst of explaining something. Without a response, she trailed off. “Mae? Mae, I..”  
Her eyes were still on the road ahead. Taking a split second glance to the seat next to her, Bea’s hardened expression melted at once as she saw Mae asleep in the seat. 

“Such a lightweight.” Bea murmured affectionately, poking Mae’s side. The feline twitched, her tail flicking defensively. “I hope you enjoy your rest, Mae.”

That was a hour ago. As Bea rolled the RV to a stop at their destination, Mae had slowly awoken. Her first words to the crocodile were a garbled, ‘Mmmmmwhadyoobringusherefor?” as she drowsily admired her surroundings. Bea said nothing and simply smiled with a pointed drag of her cigarette as Mae slowly came back to life. 

“Makeout Point?” Mae spluttered.  
Bea flustered, fighting back a slight blush. “Heh. What?”

“You brought us to Makeout Point!” Mae insisted, pointing to a stake that had been forced into the earthy dirt. It pitifully called itself, ‘Cheddarwood Creek’ but had been spray painted over. In bright red-and-yellow arches of spray paint, the area was renamed ‘Makeout Point’. Under that, in smaller letters, was the message 

‘arron dumped carla ere 12/2/17  
wot a snake. hiss.’

Bea startled a little, grinning. “I- it… this used to be the campsite I came to with my parents. Thought we could, y’know, stay here overnight. Light a fire, have smores and marshmallows, look at the view…”

“…and make out?” Mae finished with a matching grin. Bea snorted softly, reaching for the smore ingredients. 

“Maybe. Come on. I always dreamed of bringing someone here to make out, when I was like eleven.” Bea beamed. 

Margaret Rose Borowski…

Huh.

“Wow. Romance truly lives on, Beatrice.” Mae lamented, hopping from the RV. Her voice was loaded with sarcasm. She squelched through the soft dirt with the bag of marshmallows, following Bea.  
~

The leaves and twigs crunched and snapped beneath Mae’s boots as the cat trudged after her girlfriend. She huffed a little. “Where’s our spot?”  
“There.” Bea gestured to an area only a short way away, surrounded by a copse of fur trees. The light of the moon slotted itself through each branch. It was as though the moon was stalking them. Brrr.

“We could get murdered out here.” Mae shivered, but she was grinning all the same. 

Bea raised her eyebrows, grinned too. “All part of the fun, Mae.”  
She stalked right over to their area, set down the holdall and flopped onto a hammock that was set up between two trees. Mae copied, setting herself down awkwardly next to Bea. “Should we light the fire?” she asked, trying not to sound too eager; but she really was excited to have her first tasting of s’mores. She perked up instantly, her eyes bright and youthful.

“I’ll light it.” Bea corrected gently. 

Mae sank, obviously deflated by this decision. “Beebeeee!” The feline whined, clasping Bea’s hands to try and persuade her. She blinked slowly, her eyes wide and hopeful. Bea looked into her eyes for a moment and sighed, feeling her determination cracking at once. She looked away. Mae started to grin in excitement, her grip on Bea tightening. 

“Fine. I’ll get the wood. We have some in the trunk.”

“Woooo!” Mae cheered, waving her arms excitedly. Bea rolled her eyes and hid a smile, disappearing back to the RV. She didn’t take long. As much as she hated to admit it, the woods really were scary at this time of night. There was a biting chill in the air that seemed to hang onto your back, and whispered words carried themselves through the trees. Bea knew Mae was still so vulnerable, and she didn’t want to risk the cat getting spooked and disassociating out here. So, the reptile hurried, hoiking the thick wood slabs under her arm. Carrying them back was a struggle but Bea succeeded, grunting and panting, dropping the pile onto their fire pit. “There.” She panted at the eager cat grinning up at her. “We just need… huhf— whew - tinder..”

Mae remembered that from Scouts. She took her journal from her jeans pocket, flicked through it and triumphantly ripped up some blank pages, tossing the paper on the fire. Her bouncing was almost constant now, exuberance oozing off of her in waves. Looking at the bouncing cat, Bea playfully rolled her eyes and passed over the lighter.  
“You have the honour, Miss Borowski.”

“Yes!” Mae squealed, gleefully clasping the lighter in her right paw. She flicked her claw onto the groove of the lighter and watched, captivated, as the flame licked higher and higher into the air. The feline slowly pressed the growing flame to the paper. Immediately the paper browned and a flickering orange flame slowly ate it up, growing in intensity as the flames swallowed the twigs and tinder. The logs popped and crackled, splitting with soft hisses.  
Mae was overjoyed. She smiled at Bea then settled back, letting the warm orange glow engulf her, illuminating her face in pale orange glimmers. 

Bea settled down next to the feline, squishing up close for warmth. She had popped open the crinkly bag of marshmallows and offered them to Mae along with a wooden skewer. “Marshmallow, Margaret?”

“Thank you, Beatrice.”  
The cat slid a pillowy mallow onto the skewer and gingerly held it into the flames. The white puff bubbled as the heat melted it, browning it to a golden crisp. She pulled it out and bit into it instantly, oozing sweet, gooey, sugar-filled fluff into her mouth.  
Aside her, Bea copied - though she yanked her mallow from the fire quickly and stuffed it between two sandwich layers of graham cracker and chocolate. The marshmallow burst out from the sides, the chocolate had a glossy sheen and a warm feel. 

“Here.” Bea announced as though she was presenting Mae with their firstborn child. “Your first s’more.”

Mae opened her mouth expectantly. Bea plopped the warm, sticky square into Mae’s open mouth, grinning. Mae chewed through the sweet, sticky square slowly and carefully, working it around her mouth. Her eyes widened and she let out a little hum of appreciation. Bea settled back, smiled. “Like it?”

“Love it. Need more.” Mae spoke rapidly and her eyes widened. Her head felt fuzzy, and she softly rubbed her temple. “Th- think I’m getting a sugar rush.” She murmured, grinning wider, her paws scrabbling for Bea. Bea laughed softly. “Mae, that was one s’more, you total lightweight.”

“Need more!” Mae repeated. Bea chuckled again, and set to feeding her girlfriend, popping endless gooey square s’mores into the cat’s open maw. After the fifth or sixth, Mae groaned and flopped back into the hammock, her tummy bloated. She blinked - almost sleepily - up at Bea and offered her a simple, “S’more coma.”

Bea grinned toothily. Something seemed to grip her in this exact moment; that she really, really loved Mae. Loved her with all of her heart and all of her being and every screaming cell in her body.

Even though - no, especially because -

Mae was a total dork.

Cuddling closer, she dipped down and slowly captured Mae’s lips in a kiss that was softly, lovingly, gently passionate. Mae was still for a moment, shock swarming her body. She raised a paw, gently stroking Bea’s cool, clammy cheek, and vaguely felt Bea mirror her movements.  
It was… bizarre. Mae almost felt like she wasn’t in her own body and if it wasn’t for her senses on high alert she might’ve even thought she was dissociative.  
She became hyperaware of the mingled scent of ash, s’mores and cigarette smoke whereas every other noise drifted away. Bea’s gentle hum, Mae’s hitch of breath became the only crystal clear sounds as, after a dusting of feather light kisses Bea gently breached the warmth of Mae’s mouth with the scratchy tip of her tongue. She explored her warm mouth gently and playfully, tapping Mae’s tongue with her own.  
Mae almost whined at the sensation, a tiny mewl escaping her parted lips instead. Slowly and hesitantly she followed Bea’s lead, her tongue exploring the reptile’s. It was a little messy, but both girls got into a gentle rhythm of kissing and teasing and touching before having to pull away. Mae felt like every inch of her body was fizzing with adrenaline, every strand of fur hot. “Wow, Bea.” She managed to say, spluttering her words. “That was…” the feline trailed off with wide earnest eyes. It was so good, so good that there weren’t any real words to describe it. 

“Yeah.” Bea agreed, shyly locking eyes with Mae for a moment. She seemed to understand perfectly. Pulling her gaze away, she looked toward the fire and stretched. “Mmh. I need a cigarette.”  
The crocodile stood, moving to the RV for her box of cigs. Mae whined, jumping up to follow.

“Mae, I’m not going far.” Bea pointed out. Mae refused to be budged and followed, trotting alongside the crocodile.  
~

Bea disappeared into the RV as Mae loitered outside, looking around. The couple were completely secluded apart from the gazing stars in the sky above. Mae stumbled backwards as she looked at the endless night sky. 

“What are you doing?”

Mae was so lost in trying to get a closer look at the night sky that she barely registered Bea returning. 

“Nothing..” 

Mae looked between the sky and the RV, suddenly getting an idea. She launched herself at the RV, scrambling up onto it as Bea’s mouth dropped open.

The bumper of the RV creaked unhappily as Mae hoisted herself up onto it, then further moaning as she clambered onto the RV roof. She shivered as the chill of the air seemed to have a harsher bite now that she was higher up. Luckily for her - and with only one sigh and an eyeroll, too - Bea quickly followed. Setting onto the roof, the crocodile slid a scaly arm around her feline girlfriend, looking up. They sat in peaceful quiet for a little while.  
The only noises were the sound of Bea igniting her lighter.  
The sound of the lighter whooshing hot flames to a fresh cig.  
The sound of feeble wings flapping. 

Mae looked into the inky night sky and gasped in pleased surprise. Fat-bottomed fireflies fluttered around her, batting her paws and dancing at her whiskers. Bea glanced over and chuckled, her laugh fond and small. “They like you ‘cause you stink.” She reminded, tittering softly. Mae gave her a mock look of betrayal, her almond eyes slanted.  
Bea shrugged cheekily, concentrating on puffing her cigarette. “Naw.” She coughed out at last, studying the glowing feline with adoration in her eyes. “Maybe it’s just because you’re a magical person, Mae Borowski.”  
Mae had never been paid a compliment as good as that. She fumbled over herself slightly and seemed stunned into silence. Damn it, Santello, she thought. You are one smooth babe. One smooth babe.  
Though, even Mae couldn’t help fixing a set of equally adoring eyes back on the crocodile.  
“Bea?”

“Mmmm?”

“I think you’re a pretty magical person too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This is my favourite chapter in the entire story, in all honesty! Really enjoyed it. Feeeeelllsss!!!!  
> Comments and kudos appreciated. :)
> 
> Chapter 2's Song was: Dive, by Ed Sheeran 
> 
> xo


	3. somniloquism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _somniloquism_   
>  _noun :_   
>  _som·nil·o·quism \säm-ˈnil-ə-ˌkwiz-əm\_
> 
>  
> 
> Bea talks in her sleep.

Mae couldn’t sleep. Not because of any dissociation, either. It was a long, long time after Mae and Bea had crawled giggling back into their RV. Yet even as the night dragged on, the warm feeling of Bea kissing Mae didn’t leave Mae’s lips. The excitement and the adrenaline fizzled inside her long after they’d stopped kissing.  
Mae was simply content to lay next to Bea and replay that single moment in her head over and over. She did exactly that for what felt like hours, until it finally stopped keeping her wide awake and every soft imagined peck to her lips lulled her deeper into sleep. The feline laid calm, breathing slow and deep. But yet, just as she fell asleep…

“Nooooo.. I’m the only criminal around here! Take me!” Bea drawled exhaustedly. Her voice was so blunt and loud it made Mae jump, and seemed to echo endlessly in Mae’s mind. The cat came back to wakefulness instantly, panting and yowling in confusion. Her mind went instantly to her dissociation. Her throat tightened and panic swarmed every inch of her body at once, as if it was constricting her in tight.

Oh shit. Oh shit, she was dissociating again, where was Bea? She needed Bea and — wait. That wasn’t… her?  
Mae’s sleepy almond eyes finally came to, and her mind set itself straight. Everything was normal. She shuddered out a breath. Everything was normal. It wasn’t her. It wasn’t her dumb mind. She glanced at Bea to make sure, and sighed in sleepy relief. Bea was Bea, all soft blue scales and smoky exhaling - not a hard-edged hexagon in sight. Worryingly, though, the reptile’s facial expression was creased with… something not quite readable. Stress?

“Bea?” Mae whispered, nudging the crocodile with one elbow. Her gentle prompting only seemed to agitate the twenty year old further; Bea squirmed and whimpered. “Take me, not Mae!” She called softly, clawing at the air.  
Mae was a little bit frightened. It wasn’t that it was scary - after all, Bea was only talking in her sleep! - but Bea looked frightened, and Mae felt powerless to help her. “Bea, I’m here. It’s okay.” The feline whispered worriedly. She gripped her shoulder soothingly. 

Suddenly, Bea copied her movements and gripped onto both of Mae’s shoulders, whimpering. “They’re gonna take Mae… they’re gonna take her away ’n I’ll be alone… Can’t lose her too!” Bea sniffled wetly. Her eyes were still closed, but warm droplets seeped from her lashes and dripped slowly down her face. It was the first time Mae had ever seen Bea cry. The cat’s movements were feather light as she dabbed the tears from Bea’s scales with one paw.

“No one can catch me.” Mae soothed. “No one’s caught me yet.” she mused. That was the whole point of her balancing act along the Possum Springs power lines… she could wriggle along them and smirk at Aunt Mall-Cop and Aunt Mall-Cop would just grumble and wave her gun at Mae. The more Mae yelled, ‘Eff the Cops!’ at her, the more animated Aunt Mall-Cop got. 

“I gotta… I gotta go ’n kick their ass.” Bea sniffled, fighting her way out of Mae’s grip. “No one hurts my Maeday.” She announced sleepily. Her movements were slow and exhausted and she looked as though she was walking on a marshmallow. Still, the girl remained asleep. She unlatched the door of the RV and let it swing open, about to disappear into the blustery late night, when Mae yowled and launched herself after the reptile. 

“You can kick their ass in your sleep, Beebee.” Mae purred tiredly, gripping the reptile tightly and tugging her backwards, the door flying shut after them. The two girls landed in an exhausted pile against the door.

“Beebee?” Mae murmured. The crocodile suddenly felt like a dead weight in Mae’s lap and had gone silent. Her breathing became slow and even and occasionally whistled through her nose. Mae sighed as she looked over her girlfriend in one slow blink. Now that Bea had given up trying to ‘save Mae’s ass’ in her sleep, the adrenaline pumping through Mae disappeared in almost an instant and she felt just as tired as Bea. Too tired to move, in fact. She settled down against the door, propping Bea in her lap. For five slow, long minutes that seemed to hold on for eternity, Mae traced all the cracks and ridges where Bea’s scales overlapped. Mae’s tiny, feather-light touch made the corners of Bea’s mouth twitch and her breath hitched once or twice. Mae’s movements grew heavier and sleepier too… until as one final ghostly image of Mae kissing Bea flew through the cat’s mind, Mae joined her girlfriend in sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick fluffy thing :-)  
> Comments and kudos are the way to my heart :P
> 
> Chapter 3's song was: Little Things, by One Direction


	4. carnival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae and Bea visit the carnival. 
> 
> It all goes great until the dissociation settles in.
> 
> Mae... loses Bea?

“Fuck…” Bea groaned the next morning, her voice crackling and exhaustion painting her every word. “Fucking hell, Mae. What did we do last night?” She moaned. Her back pummelled with pain and her eyes ached as the harsh sunlight screamed through the windows of the RV. “Why are we lying on the floor?”

“Mmmmmm.” Mae muttered, burying her silky face deeper into the crook of Bea’s neck and nuzzling the cool scales. “D’nno, you were sleepwalkin’..” she grunted, slowly waking. As her eyes opened she stretched out as taut as a bow, not moving from her position on her girlfriend’s lap. 

Bea blinked, slowly processing this information. She wasn't a morning person. “Shit. Sorry. Forgot to tell you about that.” the reptile sheepishly nodded. 

Mae shrugged. “I dealt with it. I’m an expert with stuff like that.” she preened.

Bea snorted. “The sleepwalking expert.”

“I’m an expert at soooooo many things.” Mae continued to preen.

“Enlighten me.” Bea spoke in a low voice, her eyes slanting mischievously. She turned her head slightly, giving Mae a kiss that, considering the early morning, was inimitably powerful.  
~

Mae fed their campfire with twigs as Bea heated up breakfast-sausages over the growing flame. “What are today’s plans, Bee?” Mae asked. Twenty minutes had passed and both girls were now awake, fully dressed, and not half-dead zombies.

“I was thinking, travelling carnival?” Bea murmured, slowly poking the sausages. “I haven’t been to one in years.”

“You’re not the carnival type.” Mae mused. “They’re too…”

“Fun?” Bea quipped. Mae said it at the same time, and the reptile let out an amused snort. “Gee, thank you very much, Margaret. She rolled her eyes. Again, her voice was dripping with her signature sarcasm. “Forced fun, rigged games, puking up pierogi. What more could I want?”

Mae shrugged, biting into a sausage as she moved back to the RV. “Sounds good.”  
~

According to the GPS on Mae’s phone, there was a new-arrival of a carnival in the next town over, about forty five minutes away. With Bea itching to get back into the driver’s seat, she wasted no time in setting off. The sun was unforgivably hot this morning, glinting through Mae’s fur and shining Bea’s scales. Cracking open a window, the twenty-year-old cat lounged in her passenger seat, basking in the beating rays. 

Mae was so relaxed that time seemed to go past faster than anything. The unmistakeable sugary stupor of buttery bagged popcorn, candy floss and marshmallows drenched in hot liquefied chocolate was a pretty persuasive one though; the feline’s sensitive nose began to twitch in anticipation and she quickly sat up. “Not far from the carnival?” She trilled to Bea. 

“Nope.” Bea responded. “Five minutes, just gotta park up. Nice sleep?”

Mae didn’t sleep, she had just rested. Shrugging, she scrambled around him her pocket for spare change. “I have $5, will that be enough?”

“You’ll get, like, five goes on the claws with that.” Bea offered. Mae shrugged again. “Decent.”  
~

The carnival was fairly small - it only took the girls twenty minutes to walk around the entire area, and that was with them simply trudging together, hand in hand. Both girls were happy to lounge in the sunshine and take everything in - the sticky scent of cheap carnival food, the buzzing adrenaline of excited kids speeding on by. Mae drank in the surroundings as though she was seeing a carnival for the first time. Sure, carnivals were fun and everything, but there was something different about being at a carnival with Bea.

“D’you want to do anything?” Bea asked as they looped the entire place. She came to a stop at the Hook-A-Duck.

“Cotton candy and bumper cars?” Mae asked happily, leaning into the crocodile with a pleading expression. Bea nodded, looking around. The line for the cotton candy was the longest yet, with kid after sugar fuelled kid looping in line, screaming and waving sugary clouds in the air. They were all excitable, noisy little twits. Bea felt that she would have more fun lying on the motorway than spending ten to fifteen minutes with some sugar-addicted kids… Mae, however, would fit right in. “Right.” Bea said firmly. “You go get the cotton candy. I’ll go get the bumper car tickets.” She saw that Mae’s mouth twitched in protest and hurried to quieten her. “You can’t get bumper car tickets.” Bea explained, “You’re short. They’ll think, like, a kid has escaped and they won’t let you by yourself.”  
With Mae not moving, Bea nudged her shoulders. “Go on!”

Ah. Mae felt a bit taken aback by Bea’s attitude and yowled softly in protest as she was pushed, her ears instinctively flattening as she sensed an attack. “Jeez. Calm it down, Beatrice, I’m going!” she huffed, ruffled around the edges. The feline stormed off, more than a bit irritated at Bea naming her ‘a kid’.  
It was all she was ever named back home in Possum Springs. Always, 

‘that kid’

‘kiddo’

‘child’. 

Never mind that she was, you know, twenty years old. Twenty years old and fully adult. No one ever saw her as anything different. No one saw her for her. 

She was just, 

‘a kid’. 

‘That kid who put Andy in the hospital.’ 

‘That crazy little girl’ 

— and now, even Bea was calling her it. It was like she wasn’t a person, she wasn’t real. She was just… a shape. A formless, pointless shape.  
Mae didn’t realise how tense she was getting. Her eyes almost glazed over as she ranted about this in her head, hugging herself protectively. Still, she had enough grasp of the world to pull herself into the line for cotton candy. Once there, she went right back to having a rant. Mae couldn’t help it. The voice in her head was still definitely hers, speaking her thoughts, but there she could scream and yell uninterrupted without anyone labelling her ‘crazy’. It was almost cathartic. Once again, she could easily pull herself out of it as her spot in line moved closer and closer to the kiosk. It was easy peasy! No disassociation creeping in, or anything!

— of course, she ignored the fact that her vision, already, was blurring at the edges — 

and stepped up to the counter. “Two cotton candies, please.” Mae beamed at the attendant. He nodded, mirrored her smile, and started twirling a stick into the cotton candy machine.

Holy shit, her voice shook a little there. Heh. Heh.  
Mae gripped to her pockets as she watched him work away with the two sticks, twirling the pink fluff onto them. Despite the edges of her vision trying to trick her into seeing formless blobs of… stuff, she concentrated on the man in front of her. He was an alligator, like Bea. He was yellow with orange, rounded spikes and he had green eyes. There were some freckles dotted like tiny constellations below his eye. Mae focused on his freckles. As long as she focused on his freckles, she’d be okay. Focus on those freckles, Mae.  
Actually, as far as freckles went, these were pretty cool. They were misshapen, flung in all different directions, a gentle mix of orange-and brown. When he spoke, they crinkled and folded very slightly. 

“Here you go, kiddo.” He spoke. Mae frowned, the careful ‘freckle mantra’ in her head disappearing as the uneasiness crept back in. “Thanks.” She murmured, scooping up both candies and turning briskly on her heel to go and find Bea. The blurriness was heavier now, and she had to hurry. She wasn’t quite sure if things were real and it scared her. Even the cotton candy - which, she scolded herself, she had SEEN with her own EYES being made - suddenly seemed like it wasn’t real. It was just this big, flubbery pink mass that wobbled if it was about to eat her whole. Blechkt. It wasn’t real… how could people eat this blubbery mess… this blubbery mess of… nothing?

She grimaced and turned again, about to go throw the lot into the trash. As Mae did so, she could feel someone behind her; the pressure was heavy on her back. 

“Little girl!” A voice said. She looked up and felt her inside clench in horror. It was the carnival’s local mascot, a big yellow chicken. His eyes bulged out of his head and his beak ballooned, seeming to be swallowed up by his blubbery marshmallow body.  
Mae had always, even as a little girl, hated mascots and clowns and people dressed up. There was that tiny section of her brain that could never distinguish if what she was looking at was real or not. She had never been able to grasp the concept of, ‘man in suit’. Something not real becoming real… something real becoming not real. Mae shivered and desperately tried to get away. 

“Are you lost, little girl?”  
His voiced hissed on the ‘l’s and dragged out the ‘o’s. Even the voice didn’t sound real. All droopy and distorted. Mae whimpered, looking around, panic gripping her chest. Where was Bea?! She needed Bea. She needed Bea… but… but everything around her was just blurry shapes of nothing. People’s faces, they were all just shapes. Flat ovals on flatter, smaller ovals. Just moving and drifting and being nothing.  
Mae’s heart was pumping in her chest and blood roared viciously in her ears as the adrenaline seemed to keep her going. She had never felt more alive in her life, and that was okay. As long as she didn’t turn to shapes like everyone else, that was fine, the voice in her head panted at her. But… she still had to find Bea, and Bea was as shapeless and empty as everyone else.  
Mae’s voice cracked as she yelled. “Bea! Beatrice!” into the air. Everyone was just the same, blurry mass - even more so as Mae’s eyes filled with tears. Bea was gone and Mae was alone. Everything seemed to happen so quickly that Mae felt dizzy. She stumbled around a little and let out a small, soft sob. 

“Mae! Mae!”

… Was that Bea?  
The voice sounded different. Scratchy and distorted. It didn’t sound like her Bea. Mae was hyperventilating slightly as she rubbed her tear filled eyes. She felt something… someone?… cling to her and hold her close. Perhaps it was that clown from earlier. She felt sick, sourness filling her to the core. With that, a rush of panic to her head - blisteringly hot.  
Kill it. Tear. It. To. Shreds.  
Mae hissed loudly, twisting around to face the mass of hexagons. She had her paw splayed out, her claws razor sharp and ready to slice. 

“Mae, Mae, Mae! Mae, it’s me - it’s Bea. You’re safe.” Bea murmured into Mae’s ear, holding the feline tightly and lowering her paws. She crouched down with the cat, not letting her go once. 

Mae started whimpering unsurely. “You’re all shapes. You’re not Bea.” She near-sobbed, suspiciously looking at her (supposed) reptilian girlfriend. She was just a mess, a mosaic of hexagons and long, drooping rectangles. 

“It’s me.” Bea said firmly. “Come on, you. Let’s go back to the RV.”  
She lifted Mae up as though she was only a small kitten, and carried her the entire way back. Mae curled into Bea, tears trickling down her cheeks and dampening her fur. She whimpered almost constantly, trying to tune out the confused voice in her head. At some point, reality seemed to gently return - she could feel the cool, scratchy scales that covered Bea’s arms, squeezing her tight, and she was so close to Bea that she could hear her heart pumping in her chest. 

Bea stepped into the warm, well-lived-in vehicle and Mae dared to peep out. She saw the RV, and her clothes and the comfy, squeaky couch and sighed shakily. Bea plopped her down and she fell (on her paws) onto the couch. The feline shakily clawed at the blankets. Bea helped her pull her boots off before shrugging off her own boots and settling down on the couch. She pulled the blankets over the two of them.  
Shaking, and mentally exhausted from what had happened, Mae barely protested. She curled into her girlfriend and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, wrapping her tail around herself as if for comfort. Bea held her tight and close.  
She slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was another one of my favourite bits of the story! I always considered Mae to struggle with mascots and things, especially when she told Bea she hated Charity Bearity and there's that one dialogue with her mom where she cried at a parade mascot? I feel like mascots would always make Mae question reality a little. 
> 
> Chapter 4's song was: Eighteen, by One Direction.
> 
> Comments and kudos are loved, comment and kudos me for a free pierogi


	5. portapotty plushies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the downside to having a RV with no toilet... is pretty damn obvious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER IS ICKY. 
> 
> This chapter has like ,,, slight omo/desperation. because I am A TRASH MAMMAL BABY and I gotta be honest I love trash like that. I know it's not EVERYONE'S thing -- this isn't like, pivotal to the story. So, if this isn't your thing, move happily on! :)
> 
> But, I mean, I write this trash for a living ladies and dudes so if you read it and like it, hoo boy I CAN WRITE WAY WORSE please tell me if I should, thx

While Mae was sleeping, there was only so much Bea could do before she found that she was getting herself into a slight predicament. Clenching her jaw in worry, the reptile wriggled further in her seat, driving her aching bladder into the seat for comfort. 

She had to pee. Pretty badly. “Fuck… shit… fuck—” Bea gently chanted to herself, resting her hands in her lap. She managed to pull over with her legs tightly wound around one another, and looked urgently between Mae, and the carnival they had just pulled away from. She bounced her knee, hissing softly when this caused a painful wave of urgency to tingle through her, top to bottom. 

There was nothing else she could do. Save for peeing on the roadside, or peeing in a cup - which she definitely wasn’t going to do, especially not in front of Mae - Bea had nothing other to do than wait it out. 

And curse the Ol’ Pickaxe for getting such a tiny, USELESS RV. 

She didn’t want Mae to wake up without her there and panic, that was all. She didn’t want Mae to wake up still dissociative without her there, either. So, a… minor… bit of discomfort wasn’t really hurting her. But, oh God, Mae. Please wake up!

Fifteen minutes later it was evident that Mae wasn’t waking any time soon, even Bea strained her voice and spoke as loudly and clearly as she can. Not that she was struggling to strain at this point; her entire body was taut and tense. With shaky claws Bea grabbed Mae’s journal out of her satchel and tore off a clean page.

Mae, she wrote, 

just gone off to pee. back in 10 mins. It’s 3.30 now. 

She left the note where Mae would see it on the table and disappeared out with her fists clenched to her sides, darting for the nearest portapotty back inside the carnival.  
~

Bea had forgotten how busy the carnival was since they’d left it. She was pretty sure every organ in her body was squeezed up tight with nerves at the thought of having to wait any longer than she had already. Thankfully, Bea was no prude and as soon as the dingiest portapotty was free, she was in and out in less than five minutes. The reptile stepped out of the tiny cubicle with a small sigh of relief, adjusting her dress.  
She moved back through the carnival, relishing in the warm and pleasant atmosphere as she went. Yet, just when Bea was at the gates of the carnival, the RV juuuust in her line of sight, something pulled her back inside again. 

The claw machines. A row of the money-munchers glinted in the evening sun, claws open and poised. Brightly coloured nylon balls of… stuff… were forced inside each machine, so they looked like they were bursting at the seams. All except for the last machine in the row. Blurting out a soft jungle tune, it caged in animals of various species with big, bright eyes. A giraffe. An elephant. A panda. 

Huh. A crocodile. 

Bea smiled a little, moving quickly toward the grabber. She loaded the machine with the last of her money and began to calmly launch the claw toward the crocodile. By some fluke - Bea never was any good at these games, after all, even as a kid - she captured the toy croc on her second turn. It plopped into the prize hole, smiling up at her with its tombstone teeth and gurning eyes. She held it gingerly by the keychain before gently tucking it into her dress. He stayed in her dress for the short journey back to the RV, bobbing and drinking in her smoky scent and sharp perfume.

Bea entered the RV slowly and carefully, in case she woke or disturbed Mae. To Bea’s surprise, the feline was still dead to the word. Bea offered the sleeping cat a soft smile, weaselling the prize toy out from her bosom. She slipped it close to Mae, smiled, and drifted on toward the driver’s seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 5 didn't have a song. Should I make one up?
> 
> Let it Go. 
> 
> Let it Go by Elsa in Frozen. 
> 
> It's a very omorashi song. 
> 
> Comments and kudos me; 2 kudos for a go on the claw machine! =D


	6. munchy monkey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> late night snacks, dumb horror movies and cuddling.

When Mae woke again, Bea was gone, the RV was moving and Bea’s scent of smoke and ‘perfume that caught in the back of your throat’ lingered around Mae. Her dissociation had calmed immensely at the familiar surroundings. 

“Where we going…” Mae mumbled drowsily. Bea smiled a little, hearing that Mae was awake. “Hey, sleepyhead. Back on the road. Getting a bite to eat and taking it easy for the night.” She softly explained. 

Mae nodded, still half asleep. “Sounds good.”  
She cuddled into the warm familiar scent, then frowned. “Shouldn’t you be driving?”

Bea chuckled. Finally, she was realising!  
“I am, Maeday.” She murmured softly. This response caused a puzzled Mae to frown deeper. “No… I can smell your smell. You’re here.” She whined.

Bea giggled lightly again, her voice gentle and urging. “Mae, I’m driving. I promise. Open your eyes and take a look.”

Mae was confused. She opened her eyes. Cuddled right into her cheek was a soft, plushy crocodile It was very small, and attached to a green keychain. She lifted the crocodile to her face almost in slow motion, nuzzling the green fluff and sniffing. Just as she had suspected, the crocodile had Bea’s clingy smoke-and-perfume scent. 

“A mini you!” Mae grinned widely, excitably.  
Bea nodded.  
“Won her while you napped. Now, even if I’m not with you, little Bea will be.” She shrugged. “And… well. If you ever feel a bit, weird and dissociative… she’ll be there. And if you know she’s real, you know everything else will be real too. Even if everything else doesn’t feel real. I dunno..” the reptile flustered through her explanation, feeling heat fill her cheeks. Mae’s wide, face-splitting grin was all the confirmation Bea needed to know that Mae loved the gift.

“Aw, Beatrice!” Mae squealed. She darted off of the couch and launched herself at Bea, wrapping her arms around the girl.

“Oooft—!” Bea squeaked out, clamping the wheel tightly. “Mae, I’m driving!” She reminded lightly. Mae nodded and scrambled into the passenger seat, plopping mini-Bea onto the dashboard, so she could watch them drive along the endless twisting roads.

“You feeling up to going anywhere after what happened?” Bea asked Mae softly, her voice filled with gentle concern. Mae looked slightly bashful. After the day’s events, even though she had slept the best part of five hours, she was exhausted. “No.” She admitted in a very small voice. “Just… let’s grab some food and watch a shitty rental movie.” 

“Done.” Bea nodded, liking the sound of Mae’s plan.  
~

Six or seven roads later Bea pulled to a stop outside a tiny snack bar. The glowing, neon-yellow sign screamed that it was a ‘Munchy Monkey’.  
It didn’t exactly seem like restaurant food - more like the scraps they didn’t want to throw out and re-sold to the public, Bea reckoned - but they had a ‘Buy 2 get 1 free’ deal on cheese puffs, so it was good enough for her. A bobblehead shaped like a monkey danced in the window, urging her inside.  
Plus, there was a not-quite-dead, and only slightly suspicious, movie rental next door. 

“Stay here. I’ll go grab us munchies.” Bea’s voice was firm but she smiled affectionately all the same. Mae was too emotionally exhausted to argue back and simply nodded as the reptile pulled the RV to a stop. As Bea left the RV and disappeared inside the store, the feline sluggishly stumbled to the couch and sat there. Mini-Bea was with her too, of course. 

“I feel like junk.” Mae sleepily told the plush. “M’ tired ’n I jus’ wanna cuddle with Bea all night long. Not that you’d know what cuddling is. You’re just a thing. A thing with stuffing and Bea’s perfume. How sad.” She rambled on and on, feeling slightly delirious with exhaustion and probably still on the very fringes of her disassociation.  
When her short rant came to an end the feline paused and gave the plush a tight squeeze. “That’s a cuddle. I don’t do them as good as Bea.”

“Don’t do what as good?” Bea murmured, stepping back into the vehicle. Her mouth was full and her voice was muffled as she held one bag of cheese puffs between her teeth, two in one hand and the movie in the other. 

“Mmm..” On the one hand, Mae could explain.. but that took effort. “Nothing.” She said softly. 

The girls ended up - much to Mae’s eternal delight - cuddling up on the tiny sofa, sharing the tiny blanket and tugging it back and forth between one another. Bea had filled a bowl full of cheese puffs and another bowl with bacon pieces. When Mae wasn’t preoccupied with making a bacon-cheesepuff-bacon combo (‘It’s the only way to eat them!’, she’d whined at Bea when Bea looked puzzled) and swapping crisps with the reptile, she was laughing at the horrific movie Bea had chosen for the two of them. Pitifully disguised as a ‘horror flick’, the movie looked like it had been plucked out of the 1970s - that was the true horror, Beatrice joked - and the couple spent more time laughing at the bad acting and terrible clothing choices than they did being scared of the actual film.  
By the time the credits began rolling, Mae’s stomach ached from too much laughter and an overindulgence of cheese puffs. The feline flopped back onto the couch, patting her pudgy tummy, as she watched Bea get ready for bed. The reptile joined Mae, slipping in beside her and cuddling up to her sleepy warmth, flickering the light off. 

Mae watched the lightbulb as the light disappeared and they were thrown into darkness. She cuddled, purring lowly, into Bea’s cracked, smooth skin and listened to the young woman’s low, grumbling breathing. After a short while of Mae looking into the darkness and listening to Bea calmly breathing, she bravely offered:

“I love you, Beatrice.”

It was quiet for a long time and Mae couldn’t decide whether she was relieved or disappointed that Bea didn’t respond. She closed her eyes. 

Unbeknownst to Mae, Bea was now wide awake. She cycled Mae’s words over and over in her head. They were some pretty… heavy words to take in. Sure, they both knew they loved one another, but when it was sincerely, honestly said like that?

Bea rarely had butterflies. Tonight, right now, she had butterflies. 

Gnawing at her bottom lip nervously - and mentally slapping herself and telling herself to man up - the reptile smiled softly, putting her arm around Mae and keeping her close. She closed her eyes, but not before letting a short and sweet, 

“I love you too, Mae.”

evaporate into the darkness. 

Both girls fell asleep smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6's song was: Can't Sleep Love by Pentatonix
> 
> comments and kudos are my main source of survival pls giv
> 
> xo


	7. polaroids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A too-modern photobooth squeezed into the corner of a too-old town with a cashier that may or may not be trying to kill - or curse - them; Mae hasn't got that figured out yet.
> 
> In the meantime, Mae and Bea have fun taking their first set of 'couple' photos.

The next morning was no different to the morning before it, with Mae sleeping in considerably longer than Bea. Once again, the feline woke up and blearily looked around, feeling the vehicle moving and spying her reptilian girlfriend already in the driver’s seat. “M’rniiiin Beeeee.” She slurred sleepily. 

“Morning. Wake up.” Bea told the cat, throwing a small rectangular package at her. Mae picked it up with sleepy paws and scrutinised it. A cereal bar. Shrugging, Mae appreciatively chewed on it, working around the raisins. Blechkt. Ever since she was a little kid, she had never liked raisins. She slowly worked them into a pile on the windowsill, suspiciously eyeing them up. 

“Don’t like the raisins?”

“Rabbit poop. Looks like rabbit poop.” Mae declared suspiciously. Bea snorted, her nostrils flaring slightly.  
“Anyway.” Mae murmured. “What’s today’s plans?”

“Dunno. Drift about a bit. Gift for Gregg and Angus. Head home in the evening.” Bea offered. 

Mae nodded. “Any ideas what to get them?”

“Beats me.” Bea shrugged. “They’re such an odd little couple. Fridge magnet, or something. Picture of us.”

“A fridge magnet with a picture of us on?” 

“Touche.”

“We’re the best gift anyone could have!” Mae beamed.

“Double touche.”  
~

It turned out that Wherever They Were (neither girl cared enough to check) had absolutely nothing in terms of… life. Bea seemed to drive for hours down endless country roads, trying desperately not to dip her head and fall asleep through sheer boredom. The area was… barren. Even the ever-excitable Mae was drifting to sleep, staring at the windscreen through almost-closed eyes. It was all… so same-y. Never before had Mae - or Bea - realised how full of life Possum Springs truly was.  
The road unwound behind them.  
They passed a rosebush.  
They passed a couple of houses clustered together.  
But - finally - just when Bea was close to screaming with fury, doing a u-turn and turning back, a little village unfolded in front of them. It was small; compact and quaint, as if it was a ‘build your own village’ or a set from a dollhouse. Lots of its buildings were clustered together. Bea edged in unsurely, as though a great hulking RV would ruin such a pretty little spot. As the crocodile hunted for a parking space, Mae counted up the buildings. 

A tea shoppe, for tea and scones.  
~ _Mom would love it here_

A toy shoppe, for toys and games.  
~ _there was a cool, whirling airplane in the window_

A pet shoppe, with a beady-eyed, craggy old tortoise that judged Mae from the window.  
~ _what was the obsession with ‘pe?’; also, the tortoise was clearly squaring up to her_

A souvenir (you guessed it) shoppe. Mae didn’t know if it was vintage or half dead. “Bea!” She said, sitting up straight. “Look, they have a souvenir shop, we can look in here!”  
Her enthusiasm had returned and her eyes were wide and bright as she tapped a claw in the direction of the shop(pe).

“Holy shit.” Bea commented unenthusiastically as she looked at the store, with its shabby curtains and cursive, peeling sign. “It’s like my Grandma puked up the entire 1960s.”

Mae nodded, beaming. “We can get something for Gregg and Angus in there, right?”

Bea hesitated, then shrugged. “Yeah, whatever.”  
~

The gift shop was old and dusty, seeming to be painted in the dullest shades of antique-brown and fossil-grey. Shelf after shelf of old wooden or plastic items stood before Bea and Mae.

The carpet was grimy maroon, dirt wedged into the multicoloured spirals patterning it.

An ancient fossil of a woman loitered behind the cash desk, looking hopefully at the young couple as they trudged through, looking around. Bea grimaced, scooping up a wooden statue and blowing a cloud of dust off of it. 

(Directly into Mae's face.)

"Ugh, Bea..." Mae drawled, sniffling wetly. She held back the sneeze. "This is junk. All junk." 

The feline absent mindedly scooped up a tin globe and spun the dust from it. "Seriously, let's just get them a postcard and a Munchy Monkey bobblehead. They'll appreciate that more."

"Mae.." Bea hesitated. She frowned slightly. "She's just a little old woman. We should at least buy something." She murmured. Usually, Bea would never. But the old lady reminded her of her mother.

Truthfully, it was the fossil-woman behind the desk who was unnerving Mae. Her beady black eyes seemed to sink and be swallowed into her face, crater-like wrinkles eating them up. Mae felt as though she could curse her and Bea with one flare of her nostrils.

"You know..." The woman spoke up suddenly and unnaturally loud for her low, quivering voice, "I print postcards!"

She pointed with one shaking finger to a photo booth tucked into the corner of the shop. Hidden amongst the beige grime, the booth looked sparklingly white, modern - and practically brand new. Bea slanted her eyes smugly, knowing this would have Mae well and truly won over. 

'See?' her eyes seemed to say. 

Mae sighed, but couldn't help the grin that slowly overtook her face. "Yeah. Alright!"

Her paw was already firmly pressed into Bea's and she playfully began to tug the girl. “This’ll be fun.”  
~

Mae purred softly, settling into the seat in the photobooth. The bright, stark white and fresh ice blues were at a total contrast to the beige snooze fest she and Bea had been trudging around only moments before. 

“Wow.” Bea murmured with surprise, her eyes widening. “This is… unusually modern.”

“Right?” Mae agreed. “Old meets new. It’s like, I dunno. Grandma twerking.”

There was a long moment of silence. Bea stared questioningly at Mae for a long moment, her eyes burning right through to the back of Mae’s skull.  
“Ugh. Never say anything like that in front of me again.” The girl eventually warned. She hopped up onto the white stool without saying anything, squishing Mae in the corner.  
The feline yowled unhappily, straightening herself out. “Hey!”

“Sorry. Come on, Mae, push the button already!”

Mae scowled, but couldn’t be angry. She pushed the photo button and settled down, beaming. At the last second, both girls had the same idea - Bea whipped out her tongue, going cross eyed. Leaning on Bea, Mae grinned so wide she showed off two perfect sets of razor-sharp teeth. The camera clicked and captured the moment forever. Mae broke the grin once the camera clicked and burst into laughter, still cuddling Bea. “That one’s already my favourite. Also…” Her eyes widened and she trailed off. “Your tongue, it’s um… pretty long.” She flushed slightly. 

“Is there an issue with that?” Bea asked. “I mean, it’s a reptile thing. Can do a lot of things with it.” Again, her voice dripped with that signature sarcasm, but there was a teasing hint to it. Mae, who was slightly pink before, was now bright red.  
“Anyway.” Bea smirked, satisfied and knowing full well what she’d done. “Next photo. Ugly face time.”  
She turned and stared down the lens of the camera, flaring her nostrils, closing one eye and gritting her teeth. Mae took one look at the reptile and went a new shade of fuchsia trying not to laugh. Bea sat unmoving, waiting for the camera to click… with that stupid look on her face. Mae could barely hold the laughter in. Just as the camera clicked and captured the moment, Mae broke down into shuddering laughter, snuffling and giggling. The camera caught her eyes mid-blink, her nostrils flared, teeth gritted and face bright red - even some stray tears escaped. She let out a snort that she tried to hold back, and collapsed into Bea’s arms a red faced mess.  
“Okay. OkOkOk. Normal photos please.” The cat wheezed out, trying to get a grip.  
Seeing Mae laugh so hard made Bea laugh hard too. The crocodile held Mae in her arms lovingly, while shaking with giggles.  
“Alright, alright. Just some selfies.” She sweetly assured, wiping the stray tears that dotted Mae’s fur before gently nudging her to sit up. Mae sat up in a daze, grinning blissfully into the camera. Her grin was wide and adoring and her eyes were glossy and bright. Bea leaned in - embracing Mae with that familiar choking perfume - and toothily grinned. She brought her right hand up, her claws in the shape of a peace sign. The camera captured the moment instantly. Even after the booth prepared them for a new photo, neither girl moved, just cuddling and giggling on the tiny seat, lost in the moment. Mae had shifted to climb onto Bea and her paws were pressed firmly on Bea’s chest.  
She shifted in place, the laughs overtaking her voice,  
“I can’t feel my butt. S’all numb.”

Bea smiled down at the cat, holding her tight. “Idiot.” She said, affection flowing into her voice. Mae’s ear twitched as she looked to the camera, counting down. Counting down the two of them. Counting down Bea. Counting down her. She watched as the clock moved from two to one, and just as the ‘one’ faded from the screen the cat swooped in, caught Bea off guard and kissed her. It was weird; how her kissing Bea was somehow different from Bea kissing her. That night at the campsite, she was lost in the moment. Now, she was in control and she had to focus a lot on what she was doing. Mae slowly deepened the kiss, her eyes closing. Remembering what Bea had done, she gently urged her tongue into the warmth of Bea’s mouth. Bea relaxed into the kiss, humming with bliss and gripping Mae tightly. Just as they were balancing on the verge of fully making out, the camera shutter clicked and forced the two back into reality. They eased apart, Bea letting out a soft sigh. The screen went blank, and Mae leaped excitedly from the stool, wriggling. “Let’s see these photos!” She urged, grinning. Bea scoffed, but grinned and followed Mae, who was leading the way out. By the time both girls had walked back into the dull antique shop, the photos had printed and were sat neatly in a collection tray on the bottom. 

“Sweet!” Mae grinned, tearing the strip of four off and studying it with a widening grin. Two ugly photos… two gorgeous ones. “Which one should we send to Gregg and Angus?”  
Bea sauntered over, leaning over Mae’s shoulder and letting out a derisive snort, showering the feline with warm air. “Oh, God. That one.” She pointed at the polaroid in which Mae was mid laugh. “Show ‘em what they’re missing in Bright Harbour.”

“Or this one.” Mae smirked teasingly as she pointed to the glossy polaroid of the two girls kissing squarely on the lips. “Remind them that they weren’t the only two queers in Possum Springs at all!” She scoffed.  
Bea agreed, scoffing too. “I was offended by that. Anyway— yeah.” The reptile turned her attention effortlessly to fossil-lady with a winning smile. “Hey. Um, I’d like a copy of these photos, please.” she asked, showing the elderly lady the two photos of her and Mae. It was the first proper set of photos they’d had taken as a couple, and Bea wanted to treasure them. 

Of course, once Bea was finished with her sensible request, Mae stepped forward. “Hello!” She said cheerfully, sliding the strip of photos onto the desk. Splaying out her paw, she gestured to the first silly photo they’d taken. “This photo - we’d like a postcard made out of it, please.”  
The feline tried not to look too overcome with stress as the cashier’s beady black eyes looked at the photos disapprovingly, while Bea tried not to dissolve into giggles next to her. The cashier seemingly wanted the two girls out of her store at once 

\- this did not lessen Mae’s fears that fossil-lady was a witch, ready to curse them - 

and completed both girls’ requests in only a matter of minutes, shooing them out. Linked arm in arm, Mae carried the stack of polaroids and chattered with Bea as they stepped back into the RV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. Sorry for the wait guys - ao3 did NOT want me to upload this chapter. I've struggled for days trying to get this up! It's so frustrating!  
> But - here it is! I found out what the problem was, and it was my fault.  
> I've been busy these last few days, meeting a YouTuber. Had about 3 and a half hours in the car... and no way of updating the fic... so...  
> had a lot of time to think of new ideas for this. I think I've got at least three more ideas before I bring this series to an end. :) 
> 
> Chapter 7's Song: Symphony, by Clean Bandit. I heard it about three times in the car - damn you radio repeats. I wrote a few extracts and chapters while I was in the car, too. A majority of the later chapter songs will be pop songs. 
> 
> Also. SUPER FUN FACT!!!!  
> ~ Crocodiles do not have tongues!!! ~  
> Chloe has not researched well. Bea does not have a tongue as I said in this chapter. Well, not a long, sticky out one. Instead, her tongue would be in the roof of her mouth. If she were an alligator, which she is not, her tongue would be the length of her entire jaw. For the purpose of fluff, love and maebea please ignore my oversight. I mean, this is a fic about a homosexual cat/crocodile couple, - the crocodile even smokes - my loves, biology isn't a thing.
> 
> For one kudos/comment, you can send a needy Chloe to crocodile biology lessons. A vital cause, I'm sure you'll agree.
> 
> xo


	8. putt-putt (hunwick)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae and Bea play that game of Putt Putt in Hunwick, have icecream, and talk weddings.

“I’ve been thinking.” Bea drawled slowly at Mae, shifting in the driver’s seat. Mae had just settled down after stashing away their precious photographs.

(She paused long enough for Mae to squeeze in with an, ‘ouch, don’t strain yourself too hard!’; paused long enough to offer the cat a pointed glare that sent tingly shivers right through to her spine, and paused long enough to feel satisfied at having the upper hand. Taking in a short breath, she continued.)

“I don’t really feel like heading home yet. Do you?”

The cat and the crocodile shared a look. Mae blinked slowly and thought it over, throwing the decision around and around in her head. “Don’t know..” She mused, wringing her paws and staring at them blankly.   
“Not really. But…” Her belly squirmed, hot little balls of fire zooming around in there. “I just love spending time with you, and I don’t care where we are.”

Bea laughed softly, a fond smile sweeping over her face. “Ah, Mae!” She cooed, her voice dripping with sugary sweetness. She clasped Mae by the shoulder and affectionately ruffled up her fur, cheekily grinning.   
Not expecting this ‘attack’ Mae yowled and, between breathless giggles, tried to wriggle away. “Bee!” she mewled once of twice. The reptile listened to the cat’s pleads after the second yowl and the two fell apart, giggling. Mae’s breathless laughter and Bea’s nicotine-knotted chuckles filled the quiet in the RV for a minute or more before bubbling away into nothing. 

“Hunwick.” Mae murmured thoughtfully just after the last laugh disappeared into the air. At the side of her, Bea made a noncommittal noise. 

May have been a ‘huh?’ or a ‘Mm?’.

“Hunwick.” Mae urged, a grin spreading over her face. “We never did get to play some putt-putt in Hunwick.”

Bea’s claws clasped on the key and sent the engine roaring almost instantly, bursting into life beneath them. “Hunwick?” She parroted softly, thoughtfully. “That’s, like… between here and Possum Springs, I think.”  
Mae nodded enthusiastically at her side. “The mini-golf ice cream place. The flood took it out back home in Possum Springs.” She explained. “’N they never brought it back, just rebuilt it in Hunwick.”

“Past Hunwick, I think. Close to home, but not too close.” Bea murmured, nodding as a vague memory flittered to her. “Geez. I’m surprised you know so much about Putt-Putt.”

 

“I take my Putt-Putt and my ice cream very seriously.” Mae declared with a nod, seriousness melting into her voice… only to quickly fade away. “Icecream this high!” The kitten cheered childishly, waving a paw as high to the RV roof as she could get it.   
Bea just spluttered, shaking her head. “I am not buying you an ice cream that high. What would you even get?”

“Mmmm. Cake batter, chocolate cherry and vanilla. Rainbow chips. Coconut flakes.” Mae was near drooling at the memory - her eyes sparkled with nostalgia. 

“Cake batter was a birthday-only thing for me.” Bea remembered, setting the RV into drive and easing off onto the road. “Me, Mom ’n Dad used to get three scoops. One each. Dad had coffee, on the bottom-“ - she grimaced - “-Mom had coconut in the middle. I had cotton candy on top. Birthdays…” She shook her head. “I spent like, every birthday until I was eleven drunk on sugar and e-numbers.”  
Mae’s only response was to grin and laugh with the reptile, nodding along. “I think I spent like at least ten of your birthdays in a sugar coma.” She remembered fondly. Bea nodded and sighed a little, looking out at her blind spot and then the road ahead. 

“You know what? Eff it.” Bea declared, driven entirely by nostalgia and memories of sugar. “Let’s go play some Putt-Putt and have sugar comas in Hunwick.”  
Mae cheered beside her, paws in the air.  
~

Hunwick’s Putt-Putt blazed into life a hour and twenty minutes later. Mae’s heart almost skipped with nostalgic glee at the familiarity of the glowing pink-and-green sign screaming ‘PUTT PUTT’ and the golf-club logo with the faulty bulbs. She pressed her face against the window to get a closer look as Bea reversed to park.   
The parlour didn’t really look any different than it did when it was in Possum Springs, never mind when Mae and Bea were kids. There was still that same old fusion of new-and-old, just plonked in the middle of a flat green blanket of grass. Vividly painted crazy-golf areas were dotted over the green. The only thing that looked different was the green itself. Mae could’ve sworn that the grass was much more vividly green when she was a child - like someone had painted over it in day-glo green, or something. If she thought hard enough, she could remember the feeling of the sun beating down on her back and the heat-tipped blades of grass lashing up her legs.   
It didn’t look like that would be happening today. The sky was morphing into a soft, dull grey, the sun was shyly hiding. All ready for the night. 

“Come on.” Bea said firmly, yanking the feline from her daydreaming. “If we time it right, we’ll play just as the sun comes out, and finish in time for icecream when the sun goes in again.” She pointed out. Making sure the car was safely parked, the reptile slid out of her seat. Her girlfriend rapidly followed.   
Hand-in-hand, the two sauntered their way over to the nearest hut to book tickets and grab clubs.  
~

It turned out that Bea was right, to the point where Mae was beginning to question if Bea was secretly some sort of weather God. No sooner had the girls paid for their clubs and headed over to the beginner’s hole, the sun had awoken and blazed down on the two once more. In all honesty - hey, perhaps it was the sun blessing them - the first few holes were easy; both Mae and Bea breezed through with two hole-in-ones and an eagle. Then, they arrived at hole four.

“It’s a tiny windmill!” Mae pointed out cheerfully, paw outstretched. “I could never get this one!”

“What?! This one is easy!” Bea complained, frowning. “It’s an easy hole!”

“It’s not!” Mae pouted back. She watched as Bea look her stance, eyeing up the dimpled green ball and lining up her club. She squinted, drew back, before knocking the ball forward. It shot with force up the astroturf slope and hurtled through the windmill before being spat out at the back end. The ball came to rest in a tight corner. Of course, this prodded Mae into gloating, ‘see? see!’.

Bea huffed unhappily, moving closer to the ball. Taking another shot, the ball ambled at a leisurely pace before plopping into the hole.

“My go!” Mae hummed. She moved closer to the hole and plopped down her orange ball. She tried to copy Bea by eyeing up the ball before attempting to putt. The ball, at an angle, raced up the slope and ricochet-ed right back off a sharp left corner, landing further away than it began in the first place. Mae let out such an unhappy yowl at this and looked so defeated that Bea struggled not to burst into laughter.   
A single snort of laughter betrayed the reptile, tumbling out before she could stop it. With one laugh tumbled out a few more until Bea was doubled over, as though she were trying to fold herself into a piece of origami to stop the laughter.   
“Sorry… kit, I’m sorry.” She giggled. “Take another go, you get two more.”

Mae tried again. Somehow, the knowledge of there only being two more putts at this hole made her golfing worse. She weaselled the ball from its corner and putted. The ball rolled gracefully up the slope, nearing the little windmill. Mae was on tiptoe with excitement, her almond eyes wide. “Yes.. yes..!” She whispered eagerly under her breath, not breaking contact with the ball. It sloped toward the windmill, gently kissed it, before stumbling backwards. “No!” Mae screeched grouchily. A torn Bea, who was both amused by Mae failing and in love when she won, giggled again. “Mae, really. Let me help you.”  
~

The reptile smiled softly and stepped close to Mae, cocooning her in close. She reached around and with gentle claws, moved the position of Mae’s club. Mae’s breath hitched and she gasped shyly, melting into the reptile’s grasp. Bea craned her neck slightly to whisper at Mae. 

“See..” she gently coached, her voice quiet but rough on the edges. Her breath was cool and it tickled Mae’s fur, making her tingle. “You just need to get the right angle, the right time. Pull back like this…”   
Her voice seemed to be stitched together with concentration. With a quick flick of the wrist she helped Mae putt her ball. The ball was barely tapped by the club but in one smooth motion it seemed to sail into the windmill and potter into the hole at the end. As the ball landed with a soft ‘thunk’ into the goal, the girls eased apart and broke into matching grins at one another. 

“Wow, Bea.” Mae grinned, giggling slightly. Her insides had turned to hot jelly and her legs were string at just being so close to Bea. She came over all bashful for a moment and started to giggle out of nervousness. “Where’d you learn magic like that?”

“I’d hardly call it magic.” Bea pointed out, scratching behind one scale. “But, thanks. Used to come here a lot with my dad as a kid. He taught me.” She shrugged, moving to pick up her own club and ball. “Fourteen holes to go, kit.”

Again, the courses went much the same way. Some courses were simple and Mae breezed through them without a struggle.   
By the time the girls reached the penultimate hole, Mae and Bea were neck-and-neck. Bea was just ahead of Mae at 46 points. Mae was dragging herself along at 42 points. It was her turn to putt first. Frowning against the heat of the sun, the feline looked out toward the hole, trying not to freeze and flub the shot. She had to putt her ball over a stream of water and a hill to get a hole in one and snatch victory from Bea. With a determined sigh, she pulled her club back and shot it forward. That was what all the pro golfers did on TV, right? That was what gave them power?

Apparently not. Her ball ambled forward with a burst of speed. “Yes… this is the one, Bea…!” the cat murmured proudly

— yet, just as Mae rose onto her tiptoes with almost-excitement, the ball slowed and plopped into the shallow stream. Mae deflated at once with an unhappy yowl, sinking and staring blankly at her ball under the water. “That it? Game forfeited?”

“No.” Bea snorted, “Can’t worm your way out of it that easy, Borowski.”  
She had already grabbed a net from the helpdesk, and held it out for the feline. “You grab a net and get in the water, fish it out.” She shrugged. Mae took the net with an unsure expression on her face. She seemed frozen to the spot, hesitating and unmoving. 

“Mae?” Bea frowned. Her questioning fell flat. “Mae, seriously.” Her brows knitted together in concern and she continued to press. To the side of her, Mae hesitated as she stepped forward to the stream, perching on the small ledge. Bea nudged her shoulder, and Mae was so off-guard she nearly lost balance, her claws fighting to grip the earthy mound. She stumbled with a yowl before steadying herself and glaring at Bea.   
Bea shrugged. She could feel her anxiety bubble low in her stomach and prickle every nerve ending in her body. Yet unlike Mae, who let her anxiety consume her whole, Bea fought against it. She was suddenly hot with rage and her voice came out sharp. “Mae, what is it?”

“I don’t wanna climb in there to get it.” Mae eventually admitted with a shrug, her voice soft and bashful. 

“…Mae, you aren’t going to drown in, like, virtually three inches of water.” Bea pointed out. Her anxiety melted away at once and her voice dissolved from its sharp tones to its usual gentle huskiness.

 

“Still!” The feline shuddered, backing away. Her fur seemed to be on end. “Cold, slimy gross water. No thanks!”

Bea sighed. She seemed to hesitate for a while before taking the net. “I’ll get it for you.” She offered. “No big deal.”

Mae stepped to the side with a tiny smile and a nod, relief flooding her body.   
She watched, wary and cringing, as Bea slipped close to the bank of the stream and ducked the net into it, swirling around for the ball. The crocodile made small, soft noises of exertion as she scooped the dripping-wet net from the stream and tugged the ball out, shrugging the water from her claws. With her back still turned away from the cat, Bea allowed a private little smirk to slide across her face. She gathered water between her claws quietly. 

“Got it!”

She turned around, grinning. Mae mirrored her smile. Bea mimed handing over the golfball, throwing the water at the same time so that Mae was showered with murky droplets. The feline gasped and shivered as the icy cold, murky water ran slimy streaks down her back before melting uncomfortably into the fur just above her tailbone. She was in such shock that the golfball thudded onto the green unwanted.  
“Bea!” Mae finally snapped. Her voice came out heavy with anger - perhaps betrayal. 

Bea grinned toothily, showing off a line of perfectly pointed teeth. “Got you!” she cooed, her voice teasing and light. As Mae didn’t respond and an atmosphere developed, her smile dropped. “Mae?” She urged.   
Nothing. Just a serious case of cold shoulder. Bea’s eyes widened and her mouth opened in a rare moment of shock. She felt the familiar bubbles of anxiety pressing in her belly and quickly slung her hands into her dress pockets, balled into fists as if to ward the feeling off. Swallowing a rising lump in her throat, she continued, this time slipping closer to Mae. 

“Mae? Hey, Maeday. I’m sorry.. I know you didn’t want to go in the water. Shit- Fuck… I.. oh, it was just a joke..” Bea started to ramble, her eyes widening with worry. She felt her chest constricting and tried desperately to fight off the impending tidal-wave of anxiety. Her efforts culminated in one short sob which made her sound much too vulnerable for her liking.   
_Hey - it wasn’t her fault, was it? She’d spent so much time since Mom died. So much time building up those barriers— that sour tasting attitude that slid off of her tongue so easily— that she never could deal with emotions like… this. Sadness. Worry._

“You play a mean game, Beatrice. A mean game.” Mae spoke suddenly. She narrowed her eyes and smirked playfully back at the crocodile. 

Bea was shaking, and had jumped when Mae spoke, but the hot flood of emotion calmed down considerably once she realised that Mae wasn’t hurt or upset. “F- fuck you, Mae.” she said weakly, though there was no fire to her words. She managed a lopsided smile.

“Did I really scare you that much?” Mae murmured, settling at once and beginning to move off at her girlfriend’s pace. The game had been forgotten, clubs discarded, and the two began to ghost back toward Putt-Putt Parlour.

Bea looked bashful. It took about three minutes and a couple of pointed-but-well-meaning glares from Mae but the feline did eventually weasel a nod out of her.   
“I…”  
Moving slow, Bea kicked pebbles with the toe of her boot, scuffing them at once. “I haven’t really dealt with emotions and shit like that since Mom passed. The fear of… of losing someone. Again.   
I can’t… I can’t lose someone again, Mae.” she said. Her voice was slow and even but seemed thin, as if just the right words could break it. 

“I know.” Mae said eventually, letting the wind carry her words into the air. She imagined someone swinging at them with a golf club and shattering them into a million pieces. Something, like deja vu, held her for a moment, and she shivered. 

“I’m.. I’m not going anywhere.” The cat continued. “Not planning on it, anyway.”

“Doesn’t this count as, ‘anywhere’?” Bea squinted.

“You didn’t let me finish.” Mae said, despite the fact that Bea obviously did let her finish - Bea didn’t have the energy to argue against it -  
“I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“Mmm.”  
Bea hummed contentedly, warmth filling her heart. Both girls beamed to themselves, slipping cold hand into cold paw as they ambled along in the wind. Mae waited, timing their silence by every whisper of wind and crunch of boot, before breaking in with a,

“Unless it’s Putt-Putt Parlour. I’d go here alone anyday just to, like, cry into a bowl of cake batter icecream.”

“Have you done that?”

“Yeah. Pretty cathartic.”

“Huh.” Bea snorted. “That’s a new one. Never recommended me that one at grief and bereavement counselling.”

“Just did.”  
~

“Alright then, hot new grief counsellor.” Bea murmured as she stepped into the 1950’s-style icecream parlour, looking around. “Show me what to do.”

Mae laughed softly, finding the two a private booth and leaping up onto the red leather couch. Bea looked around with an approving nod and settled opposite the cat.   
“Pretty aesthetic.” the crocodile nodded in satisfaction. There was a mini jukebox set down on the table. A beaming crocodile looked down on them from the pop-art canvas above their seats. Just around the corner, rows and rows of gloopy swirling icecream eyed the couple up. Mae set a grin at Bea. The same grin with that same smile from a couple days ago. Bea sighed softly, a slow smile spreading over her face. “Fine, let’s go get the icecream.”  
Mae cheered instantly, shooting out from her seat and heading toward the ice-cream counter. 

“I’m warning you,” Bea murmured, following the cat at a steady pace, “No sugar comas. I’m not saving you from that one.”

“OkOkOkOk!” Mae trilled, though she seemed to not be listening, already engrossed in explaining her order to a grumpy looking beaver behind the counter. Next to Mae, Bea was doing the same thing.  
~

With a soft grunt, Bea slid back into the booth she was sharing with Mae. She was holding a small bowl of icecream: three scoops, strawberry sauce and chopped nuts. Her girlfriend, however, was stumbling some way behind her; trying to balance an already-melting bowl of four scoops, chocolate and strawberry sauce, and rainbow sprinkles.   
The feline yowled on the verge of a panic as cold, sticky icecream trickled down the bowl onto her paws and the bowl almost tumbled from her grasp. “Beebee, help!”

Just about to dig a plastic spoon into her bowl, Bea paused, looked over and shook her head in disbelief. “Mae, what did I tell you?” she gasped. “This is like, sugar coma highway.”

“Couldn’t resist… the call of the icecream…” Mae cried dramatically, earning herself a sigh and a hardened glare from Bea. Mae was childish, so very childish… it was a good thing that Bea found her so cute. It - just about - made the childishness bearable. Her glare softened at once and she lifted the bowl from Mae’s paws, plonking it down on the table. Mae sighed gratefully and settled down opposite Bea, claiming her melting bowl at once. 

The two girls sat in comfortable silence, quietly nibbling their way through their ice creams and just enjoying the pleasant tranquility of one another’s company. When it was just the two of them sharing a moment, Bea realised that she could easily block out everyone else and all that she paid attention to was herself, Mae, their icecream and the quiet tunes in the background.   
“So.” The crocodile hummed, neatly swallowing a mouthful of coconut icecream. “What’d you get?”  
She waved her plastic fork at Mae’s melting bowl. 

“Mmm..” Mae hummed, scooping up a pink-and-white puddle. “Mango, vanilla, butter pecan and strawberry cheesecake.” She beamed, ear to ear. “What about you?”

Bea stirred her icecream with her spoon. “Coconut, passionfruit and mint almond.” She piled the spoon high and waved it in Mae’s face teasingly. “Mmmm. Want some?”

“Can I?” Mae beamed, opening her mouth expectantly. Nodding, Bea nuzzled the tip of her spoon into Mae’s mouth and let her girlfriend suck the small peak of icecream from it. Mae appreciatively worked her way through the sugary sweetness, leaning in for more.   
Bea allowed herself to smile softly, continuing to gently feed her feline girlfriend. When she pulled away, Mae’s whiskers were tipped with dribbles of icecream and there was a tiny freckle of icecream on her nose. At the sight, Bea bubbled with laughter; but was just as quick to scramble and cover her mouth with her hands. 

Mae’s eyes widened, then she frowned with confusion. “What?”

“Icecream on your whiskers.” Bea said casually, delicately reaching out and flicking a blob of icecream from the curl of Mae’s right whisker. She balanced the melting blob on the edge of one claw and slid it into her mouth, sucking it off with a soft pop. “Mmmm. Butter pecan.”

Mae flushed, smiling slightly. “Umm. Take some of mine.” She offered, passing the bowl. Bea looked down into the melted puddle of icecream Mae had offered. 

“Gee. Thanks, Mae.”  
She dug the spoon into the bowl, lifted it out and sucked it gently, smacking her lips together. “Mango and strawberry cheesecake. That old classic.” 

“Good, right?” Mae enthused, showing off a row of sharp little teeth. Even though Bea had passed her bowl back, the cat was much too distracted to eat. She had leaned over their table and was now engrossed in fiddling with the coin slot of their personal jukebox. Perplexed, Mae mewed as she tapped the glass display. Inside the glass, records stood on their ends, titles printed in tiny, uniform letters. No matter how hard she tried, Mae couldn’t rig the machine into playing. 

“Please don’t tell me you’re rigging that thing.” Bea said. Her voice was low, but had that ‘I know what you’re up to, Mae Borowski!’ kinda hint to it. “You have spent WAY too much time around Gregg.”

“Gregg’s in Bright Harbour!” Mae protested without glancing up. 

“His spirit lives on.” Bea sarcastically offered, earning herself a grin. 

Mae shook her head. “Can’t rig it into playing. Gregg’s good at rigging, not me.”

“Wouldn’t call it rigging…” Bea began, but decided it was pointless to argue and trailed off. She rummaged around distractedly for a moment, claws scrambling in her dress pockets. After a minute or two she finally produced a shining quarter. “Maybe try this.”  
Humming, the crocodile leaned over the booth and flicked the coin into the coin slot. The small jukebox buzzed excitedly as it exploded into life and allowed Bea to flick through the record collection. The expression on the croc’s face lit up at once as she started to scroll through the records, and a smile burst out over her features.   
At this point, Mae settled back in her seat just to watch Bea, allowing herself to privately smile. The reptile looked genuinely enthused, lost in her own world of old music and sepia-toned memories. Her smile was genuine and warm and her eyes seemed to sparkle as though they held so many glimmering memories.   
“There.” Bea nodded with great satisfaction when the jukebox began to softly blurt out a tune, settling back in her seat.   
She could feel Mae itching to ask what song it was, and knew without even casting a glance at Mae that the cat was giving her a look of major confusion. Bea nervously played with the serviette on the table, scrunching it between her claws in an attempt to battle the bubbling anxiety in her tummy. Again.   
“It’s…” she finally spoke, her voice wavering very slightly. “It’s a Beatles song. Called, ‘In My Life’.”   
Her voice was slow and soft, as if she had rehearsed the lines carefully. “I don’t think Mom and Dad cared for the Beatles much - slightly past their time - but this was one of Mom’s records. They played it at their wedding.” she admitted to Mae. 

Mae felt.. odd. Stunned, almost, into silence. The crocodile’s quiet admission seemed heavy, almost, as though this was something that Mae should keep close - keep close and feel glad that Bea shared this with her.   
She nodded softly, on autopilot as she processed her emotions. “It’s a… special song to you, huh.” the feline murmured, a slow smile spreading over her features.

Bea nodded, looking up for one fleeting moment and catching Mae’s gaze before casting her attention back to the napkin she was scrunching on the table. “I’d like to play it at my wedding someday.” She said.

Mae mumbled inaudibly.   
She didn’t know whether that was her cue to get bashful or not; the heat rushing to her cheeks decided for her and she flustered for a response, mouth opening and then closing as she tried to think of something to say that didn’t sound so… so… _obvious_?

“Oh…” was the pitiful response Mae settled for, grimacing internally when it came out much squeakier than intended. 

Bea chuckled. Her moment of quiet anxiety had dissipated, the bubbles in her tummy faded away to nothing. “Married to you, idiot.” She said affectionately, ruffling up Mae’s fur and letting it slot through her fingers. “So you’d better not forget, okay?”

“I won’t… so long as you let us have our honeymoon here.” Mae beamed ear to ear. 

Bea spluttered. “Whatever you say, Maeday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't intended to be in the story, but after a rather boredom-inducing 3 hours in the car last Tuesday I thought up this little scene. They never did play Putt-Putt in Hunwick after all, so I'm just here fulfilling Mae's dreams. 
> 
> I swear writing these chapters make me feel 20x more gay than I already am. Goddamn, I need a girlfriend. I even miss my ex girlfriend, man.   
> ...What do you mean 'Chloe, stop living vicariously through a cat/crocodile couple'?! I - I'm not doing anything of the sort.   
> *vague cough into distance*
> 
> Chapter 8's song: In My Life, by the Beatles
> 
> One comment and one kudos gets me a girlfriend. Pay up, lads. I'm desperate over here. 
> 
> xo


	9. barbecue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mae and Bea, at that mid-point between home and the rest of the world, find a barbecue joint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VOMITING if you are in any way emetophobic (like ME why did I even WRITE THIS) please FEEL FREE to skip this chapter!!! it is basically filler LOL - it has nothing to advance the story plot wise it's fine! !!  
> I got inspiration for it from one of NITW's developers (Scott Benson!) who mentioned in his Curious Cat that Mae and Bea DO go on the roadtrip they teased in-game -- so technically this fic is canon ;) -- BUT they go to a barbecue joint about forty minutes away. Boo to our maebea dreams lads. 
> 
> (but as someone on 4chan did point out 'well he didn't say that mae wasn't between bea's legs the entire time' -- lol -- yes)

The two girls left Hunwick with cold, full tummies. Feeling the sugar rush to her brain and slowly consume it whole, Mae yowled as she sped two-at-a-time into the RV and collapsed back onto the couch.  
The couch squeaked slightly as, sleepy, Bea joined Mae - purposely climbing over the cat so she could take her rightful position as the big spoon.  
Sharing the comfortable moment of quiet, Mae rubbed her temple with one paw and stared up at the RV’s sunroof. 

“My brain is confused.” The feline groaned. “Sugar… all this sugar hyping me up… ’n my tum… s’all full and sleepy.” she complained. 

“Yup.” Bea drawled, curling close and blowing a soft, cool breeze at Mae’s back, nostrils gently flared. “Same. We are so totally rock and roll.” 

Mae yawned, stretched her body out so it was taut and she perfectly spooned Bea. “S’ been fun though.” She said. Her words were nearly eaten up by her yawn. “M’not ready to go home. Feels like this has been one big dream.” she explained, frowning and waving her paws in an attempt to explain her exhausted thought process to her girlfriend. At this admission, Bea herself froze. 

“That’s… not a bad thing, right?” 

“No, No.” Mae soothed. “It’s fine. Just… dunno. Back to Possum Springs. Back to dealing with the shitty leftovers of that cult.”  
\- That was the worst bit, Mae had soon realised. The sick swirling realisation that grew in her stomach when she realised someone was missing from town, the men trapped in the mines seeming to be simultaneously trapped inside her own mind, screaming at her; the stinging swipe of loneliness when she passed the Snack Falcon and the Video Outpost Too and saw not Gregg and Angus, but some hormonal teenagers who barely glanced at her if she walked in.  
Sure, there was Selmers, Germ and Lori, but aside from that it was… just her and Bea.  
Her and Bea… doing what they always did, saying what they always said - like two characters in a video game - like they had their lines stuffed down their throats and spewed them out again when they saw one another.  
It felt nice that, just when those thoughts were beginning to unsettle her, Bea scooped her up by her ears and whisked her away, taking those thoughts with her. Yet, now that they seemed closer and closer to heading back home, the unsettled feeling in the pit of Mae’s stomach had returned. - 

“Back to my shitty minimum wage job.” Bea remembered, bringing Mae swiftly back to reality, ass first. She cringed along with the crocodile, who scoffed at her. “Don’t cringe. You don’t have a job to go back to.” Bea sourly reminded. 

“I could take Angus’ old post at the video outpost,” Mae proposed, smiling optimistically. “Show all the oldies The Wonders of The Internet!” 

“And have yourself out of a job in like, two days?” Bea reminded, snorting. Mae sank, defeated, which urged the reptile to continue. “Naw. I mean, you had some skills you showed off these past couple days… starting a fire, for one…” 

“I already start fires…” Mae mumbled sheepishly, remembering Mr. Twigmeyer’s grass-fires that one time. “Is there a job in that?” 

“Uhhh. Maybe not. Golfing?” 

“Definitely not.” Mae scoffed. 

The two girls settled down, spitting suggestions into the air as the night rolled in. At some point, the suggestions became slow and drowsy as the girls drifted off to sleep together.  
~ 

Wednesday morning rolled around rapidly, sunlight slipping in through the windows before coming to a gentle rest on Bea’s eyelids.  
Blinking her eyes slowly open, Bea groaned, stretched her aching limbs, and mumbled softly into Mae’s shoulder blade. The warm, silken fur was rougher here, twisted and knotted. Huh. Bea never noticed that before. The gentle warmth almost soothed her into sleep again, but Bea forced herself to keep her eyes open.  
Mae’s response was slow, with a soft lazy yawn “Mornin’.” the cat eventually whispered, voice heavy with fatigue. 

“Morning, you.” Bea murmured, her voice throaty and scratchy. She nuzzled into Mae’s shoulder, earning herself a small, tired morning peck. “What we doing today?” 

“You’re the driver…” Mae rubbed her eyes and sat up. The duvet was hugged tightly between one paw, resting like a wrinkled puddle against her chest. “You decide.” 

“Dunno…” Bea shrugged, standing up and heading for the door in just her nightdress, cigarette already balancing between two claws. She touched the flame of her lighter to the end of her cig and gave a smoky exhale. Standing at the door, Bea squinted through the smoky blue sunlight to get a closer look at their parking spot, before her gaze rested back on Mae. “You always seem to lead me into chaos, Mae.” 

She looked back to their parking spot again, stepped out onto the grass. The grass was wet and sagged onto her toes, so the early morning dew dribbled in between her toes. She took a fresh drag from her cigarette, coughed, and then her gaze finally focused on the roadside nearby. Bea’s eyes widened. 

“Hey. It looks like there’s a BBQ place a couple miles from here.” 

“Oh!”  
Mae scrambled over, paws skittering across the floor to join her girlfriend’s side. “That’s the Oaken Smokes, isn’t it? Yum!”  
Bea nodded, coughing softly. 

“S’a good place for lunch.” Mae nodded eagerly. 

Bea grinned. “Who says we have to wait until lunch? BBQ breakfast, kitten.” 

Mae’s eyes widened. She grinned wide too, showing off a row of sharp shining teeth, before slyly slanting her eyes. “Wow Beatrice, now you’re the chaotic one.” 

Bea coughed again, which turned into a slow, shaky laugh. “We’re rock ‘n roll.”  
She took one more drag of her cigarette before stubbing it out and flicking it onto the dew soaked grass, moving back into the RV with a shiver. Yesterday’s discarded clothes were wrinkled, thrown over the passenger seat. She rolled her dress out and wriggled into it with two shakes; too quick for anyone but Mae to get a closer look at her. 

Of course, Mae couldn’t not look. The feline grabbed herself a split second glance at Bea; the curves of her breasts, tiny rosebud nipples and the way her waist cinched in, before bra and dress were rolled on and clung in all the right places.  
Sighing, Mae looked down at herself. She was still in yesterday’s clothes; a force of habit at this point. Unlike Bea’s trim figure and barely-there tummy, Mae had herself a little chubby pouch, and her hoodie was just about baggy enough to cover it. Her hips and thighs were wide all over - unlike Bea, who’s wide hips gave way for skinny legs. That was without even mentioning her boobs. 

“Geez, Mae.” Bea murmured, “What’s that face for?” 

Mae struggled to find the correct words but eventually settled for a rather moody, “Genetics. Look at me, Bea. I’m a sturdy lump.” She muttered grouchily. She waved a paw melodramatically toward the crocodile, still frowning. “’N you’re all cute shapes!” 

Bea gave Mae a long measured look, her gaze cool but serious. “Margaret Borowski.” She said simply, voice so firm it made Mae’s fur bristle. “You are gorgeous. You are gorgeous just the way you are. I love you. Just the way you are.” 

Her voices somewhat stilted. Mae didn’t doubt that Bea didn’t love her… just that she was absolutely, positively, 100% awful at dealing with soppy shit. 

“I really am one step closer to divorcing you.” Bea said softly after a moment of thinking, settling herself into the driver’s seat. Mae let out a little ‘tchkt’ of laughter, clicking her own seatbelt at Bea’s right. “Still have to be married for you to do that.” 

“Right. So we’ll get married, honeymoon at Putt Putt Parlour and then I’ll divorce you.” 

Mae’s little ‘tchkt’ of laughter bloomed into a full laugh. “Deal.” She said, clapping her hands over her mouth.  
~ 

“Welcome to Oaken Smokes, your one-stop roasting shop, home of the Beef Slam Burger,” A bored goat teenager rehearsed back at Mae and Bea in a monotone voice. “How can we serve you today?” 

“Uh, yeah.” Bea said, nodding at the bored teenager as if to say, ‘I know that feeling.’  
She glanced back at Mae for a split second and shook her head, seeing the feline engrossed in a stag skull that had been mounted on a nearby wall. “Can I have two portions of rib, a side of mac n’ cheese and a—” 

“Extra hot atomic wing platter!” Mae announced cheerfully, returning to her spot in line beside Bea. Her voice came out so loud and so enthusiastic it made the reptile flinch. Before Bea could even protest against it, the teen started to ring the order up.  
Bea quickly turned toward the cat, shaking her head. 

“What, are you crazy?” Bea hissed, her eyes widening. “Where did you even hear about that?!”  
Why - why could they not just have one quiet dinner together? Why did Mae have to mess about? 

“Oh, pleeeeease, Beebee!” Mae gasped, making her eyes as wide and innocent as possible and clasping Bea’s hands in her paws for good measure. “It’s only 20 wings in 40 minutes, that’s nothing - and I get to be in my rightful place on the hall of fame!” 

“Only 20 wings, Mae — have you stopped to think why the challenge is only 20 wings? There’s no way your stomach will cope with it!” Bea insisted.  
It was quiet for a long, long minute… Bea took her hands from Mae’s paws and sighed once she realised Mae couldn’t be convinced otherwise.  
“Fine.” she said eventually, voice even and flat. “But there is no way I’m helping you if you puke. You brought this on yourself.”  
~ 

Twenty minutes later, the girls were settled in a booth. Bea had been served her ribs and side, and slowly began working the charred meat from the bones, dipping it into the cheesy pasta. Mae had realised by this point that the atmosphere surrounding the two was thick and tense, and tried her hardest to dispel it. “I’ll be fiiiiine, Bea,” she insisted. 

Bea spluttered out a laugh, dismissing Mae instantly. “Oh, are we conveniently forgetting that you get sloppy ass drunk on two shitty alcopops? That you ate three donuts at Donut Wolf and puked up, like, three meals? That when we carved out pumpkins in scouts you puked at the sight of the guts?” 

“Ma’am, your platter,”  
A vulpine waitress cut Bea’s responsible schpiel short, putting a platter filled with day-glo orange chicken wings down onto the table. She looked to Mae and coughed as if beginning a speech. “The rules are that you must eat all twenty of these hot wings down to the bone, in forty minutes or less. You must dip them into the hot sauce before eating them. You are allowed one glass of milk - that’s here.”  
\- Mae and Bea watched her put a small glass of milk onto the table.  
“You must show your tongue at the end of the challenge to prove you have eaten the wings. If you complete this challenge, your name will be on the hall of fame and you get a tee-shirt. Do you understand?” 

Mae was quiet for a long moment. Finally, she smirked at Bea - who still seemed to be pleading with her to not complete the challenge - and nodded firmly at the fox. “Yes.” 

“Forty minutes to eat twenty wings.” The fox reiterated. Mae nodded again, firmly this time. The fox checked the clock on the wall opposite them. “Your time begins now.” 

As Bea slowly picked the meat from her ribs, carefully wiped the grease from in between each claw, and dipped into her mac’n’cheese, Mae was wolfing down hot wings. 

The first wing to go down was… hot. Mae dipped the chicken into the mandatory hot sauce before she chewed into the orange flesh and rolled it quickly between her teeth. She refused to give it long enough to rest on her tongue and swallowed it in one forceful gulp, leaving a greasy glazed bone on the platter. The feline felt the chicken punch her with heat as it went down her throat and, in an attempt to not reach for the milk on her first wing, a breath got tangled in her throat mid-cough. She spluttered.  
Bea raised her eyebrows at the cat; Mae scowled. 

She could not let Bea win. 

One down. Nineteen to go. 

Mae dipped her second wing. She flaked the skin from the bone quickly and continued to rapidly chew the meat. The heat from this wing combined with the heat before it and a heatwave coursed through Mae’s mouth. She let out a shaky pant and took a single sip of milk, sighing as the creamy liquid soothed the fire that was just igniting itself. 

Eighteen to go. 

The wings still hurt when they went down, though. Mae imagined them making a fiery puddle in the pit of her stomach. Determined, the feline marched on, frowning to herself as she shredded the meat from a third wing and drenched it in hot sauce, plopping the fiery object into her mouth. 

Bea watched, though she tried not to. At this point, she gave Mae a derisive snort, her nostrils flaring. “You’re crazy.” 

Mae didn’t care. That was why she didn’t reply. Some may have said it was the heat engulfing her mouth which prevented her from snarking back. Oh… oh no. It was definitely… definitely that she didn’t care. Besides, she was already on her fourth wing! 

This was easy! 

\- Or, at least it seemed easy - until she got to wing #8. Wing #5 was a struggle to swallow, wings #6 and #7 turned her stomach to lava but Wing #8 was when everything went wrong. It had - out of the blue - gotten tiring to chew through the hot meat and every movement of Mae’s jaw seemed like a struggle. Her senses were heightened and even as she started to gulp back the milk in an attempt to combat the growing volcano that was her stomach, the milk seemed… odd, all sharp and sour like it had curdled in the glass. One gulp of milk was sweet and creamy in Mae’s mouth but sour as it hit the back of her throat. It made her gag. 

Suddenly, Mae's surroundings started to blur out. She groaned, but it sounded low and distorted. This was different to dissociation - a queasy feeling crept up her stomach and stayed there, pawing at her throat, whereas the milk curdled in her tummy. Mae could see Bea's blurry silhouette lean over her as she slumped down on the couch, holding her stomach. Somehow, Bea seemed to be in three places at once - in front of her, then on her right, then on her left.  
Mae opened her mouth very slightly - a little fearful to open wide in case she was sick - and whined. She reached a paw out for one of the blurry Bea's, claws out. "Mmn.. stay still, Bea..." she pleaded - then quickly shut up, trembling all over. God, it hurt just to hold up her paw. The insides of her cheeks began to go sour - first her right, then her left. 

 

"Mae?! Mae - whoa-" 

 

"Ma'am... ma'am, are you alright?" 

 

"Ma'am, would you like water?" 

that. . . that was the waitress. . . ? ?  
Mae groaned. She - the, the waitress - was spinning too. Her voice seemed to triple. 

 

"M' ... m' gonna..." 

 

Mae's jaws ached from holding her mouth shut, and her voice came out low and raspy. Her insides lurched and she felt all the fire that had gone down, rapidly come back up. "M' gonna be sick--!" 

 

She jumped up from her seat and almost literally pounced into the bathrooms across the hall, thanking every sky-God there was that the bathrooms were close.  
There, the feline gripped to the basin to steady herself, feeling weak. From the way others were backing away and giving her a wide berth, Mae guessed she looked awful. Hell, she felt it. Her insides tightly lurched again and she yowled, pitifully leaning forward and vomiting pale, runny orange puddles into the sink, over and over. Her throat felt raw, as if someone had been clawing at it with a fork, and sour heat seemed to spill from her throat into her mouth. Standing back, Mae shakily took a look at herself. She was pale, yet her eyes and cheeks were bright red. The fur that trailed from her mouth was damp and bedraggled, and there were dubious splotches and stains dripping down her tee-shirt. As another wave of nausea crashed into the small cat's body, she groaned. Her entire body shuddered and - again - her belly spasmed. Ducking her head down to spew once more, the cat prayed this was the last of it. 

 

And - rather childishly - as the pained heaving brought tears to her eyes and made her sniffle - she wished she had Bea.  
_But there is no way I’m helping you if you puke. You brought this on yourself. . ._

Oh. 

Yeah.  
Mae had almost forgotten Bea said that.  
Mae sniffled again - fuck, when did she turn into such a baby?! - and tried to keep another wave of sickness away as she turned the faucets on full blast, numbly watching the icy water swirl the vomit down the drain. The pungent stink got into her nostrils and made her gag, but not enough for her (now empty) stomach to force anything up. The last sour remnants of the chicken wings stayed on the very tip of Mae's tongue, tangy and bitter.  
Mae looked into the mirror again, studying her swollen, bloodshot eyes.  
"Ugh." 

 

"Mae- Mae, fuck, it's me!"  
Just as Mae was about to stagger out, the unmistakeable sound of Beatrice Santello's voice cut into the air - making Mae's gaze instantly go to the door. A breathless Bea skid inside the bathroom, skittering across the sticky floor in her Uggs. She held out a freshly opened bottle of water; Mae shakily clasped it. It was ice cold, so cold it stung her paw pads. 

"Thanks." Mae sniffed. 

"Are you okay? You looked... seriously woozy." Bea asked, her hand squeezing the cat's shoulder, and her eyes full of genuine concern. "You don't feel sick anymore?" 

"No... That was the last of it, I think." Mae laughed shakily, glancing consciously back to the tainted basin. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. 

"Mmm. Drink. Now." Bea ordered firmly, tipping the water bottle to the edge of Mae's lips. Mae sipped gratefully, the ice cold water washing away the tang of her sickness. She opened her eyes again to find Bea moving in a slow circle around her, surveying the damage. "Oh, Mae..." the reptile winced, "Your shirt... It's ruined!" 

"S'okay. I have more than one at home." Mae admitted, breaking away from her water bottle for a moment.  
Bea moved forward insistently. "No, God. Here, let me mop you up." Her voice was still full of concern. Ducking into the nearest toilet stall, Bea unspooled a couple sheets of toilet roll and balled them up in her fists. She returned to Mae, splashed some cold water from the basin onto the sheets, and leaned in toward the cat.  
"C'mere." she murmured, her voice as gentle as anything, "Let's clean you up." -- and without giving Mae a chance to protest she quietly mopped the cat up, with feather-light touches to her cheeks and lips, dabbing away the... ick. Then she slid downwards, working on saving Mae's shirt. New roll of TP, few pumps of hand soap, a splash of water. Bea frowned with concentration as she lifted the shirt away from Mae's tummy and began to vigorously scrub at the stains. Most of the splashes faded, but didn't disappear. After a solid five minutes of battling with the shirt, Bea sighed and lowered it, admitting defeat. "Sorry, kitten." She murmured in a rare moment of upset. "Looks like your shirt is ruined." 

"Don't worry about it!" Mae insisted, her paw resting softly on Bea's arm. "You tried. Besides, washing machines exist, and so do duplicate shirts." The feline shrugged, her voice sounding chipper in spite of all that had happened. "I'm more disappointed I can't get the Oaken Smokes shirt." 

 

Bea shrugged too, making a soft 'mmhm' as they left the bathrooms. "Don't worry. I mean, you can borrow one of mine." She said, smiling and drifting off to pay for their food.  
"Uh.. wow. Okay..!" Mae said as she followed, her eyes widening. She decided not to mention that she wasn't a (total..) slimeball and she had packed at least four other shirts in her holdall when they'd set off.  
Why would she?  
She got to wear Bea's shirt!  
She'd rather choose Bea's clothes over some dumb BBQ joint's merch any day.  
Because, after all, she was more proud to call herself Bea's girlfriend than she was to call herself 'Oaken Smokes' Atomic Wing Destroyer!!!' 

 

(Even if that was a pretty cool achievement...)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for any layout issues, ao3 was being an ass. 
> 
> Chapter 9 Song: Girls/Girls/Boys by Panic! At the Disco
> 
> In case you're wondering (I know there's that one commenter who does...) I wrote this while eating a coconut yoghurt. 
> 
> Comment me, and you can HAVE SOME. Kudos me and I'll even feed it to you. 
> 
> Who would EVER turn that glorious offer down, ladies and dudes pay up !!! don't miss THIS *points at self* piece of trash! 
> 
> *rolls off into sunset*
> 
> xo


	10. home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's hometime for Mae and Bea.

_“Here. Lift.”_

_“Bea, I can put my own shirt on. I am fully capable of putting my own shirt on.”_

_“Wow. News to me. Anyway - it's my shirt. Lift your arms, Borowski, geez.”_

(It was two hours and ten minutes later, and the girls hadn’t yet started their journey back. No sooner had Mae got back into the RV she had collapsed (in vomited-on clothes, no less) onto the couch and fallen asleep. Bea swore that Mae spent more time sleeping than she did awake on this trip, but after her exhausting morning decided it was easier to just let the feline have a _\- heh, heh, Bea was almost proud of this one -_ cat nap.

But now she was awake, and her tee was well-slept in, not to mention gross.)

Grumbling, Mae lifted her arms. Bea rolled the feline’s ruined t-shirt off, quickly replacing it with one of her own. Mae recognised Bea’s scent clinging to it - a mingled, smokey perfume that seemed to hug her tightly.   
What surprised Mae was that the t-shirt was actually baggy on her; she felt like a little kid dressing up in their older sister’s clothes, or something. Once she was cloaked in the shirt, she lowered her arms and settled. 

“Suits you.” Bea nodded, looking Mae slowly up and down, eyes eating their way up Mae’s body. A tiny smile danced on the edge of her lips. “Really does.”

Mae moved around the RV slowly, as though she was walking on air. The tee drifted behind her, heavy and long on her small frame, puddling awkwardly on the floor. 

“Anyway. Hometime.” her reptilian girlfriend patiently explained. “You’re on postcard duty. I’m packing up then driving us home.” She pointedly pulled out a chair. Mae scrambled into it, lifting out the polaroid postcard they had created yesterday afternoon, and letting out a snort of laughter at the picture on the front. She hesitated, pen in paw, and stared at the blank glossy sheet for a solid five minutes, as though words would materialise out of thin air. Eventually - page still blank - the cat gave up and twisted in her seat to face Bea, who was wrestling open both suitcases and folding clothes into them.

 

“Where am I sending this postcard?” She asked thoughtfully. “What do I even write?”

 

“I dunno, say something sappy about how much we miss them. Send it to their address in Bright Harbour.”   
Bea shrugged, flipping her clothes back into her suitcase. “They’re there now. Fully settled, apparently. Speaking of, don’t you think it’s a bit, y’know. Redundant? We’re leaving soon. They’ll, like, get this by the time we’re home in Possum Springs.”

“Eh. So what?” Mae beamed determinedly, putting pen to paper. 

_Hey, Grengus u big dorks_

_missin u heaps. hope the Big Move went well_

_look at what your missing!!! ——— > _

_bearice loves u so much and_   
_me too love_   
_maebea_   
_x x x_

 

_ps come back soon_

Glancing over Mae’s shoulder, Bea frowned and spluttered. “Beatrice. It’s Beatrice.”

“Mm?”

“You wrote Bearice. Also… text speak in a postcard - Mae, really?” Bea gave her a pointed stare. 

Mae shrugged. “We getting that bobblehead?”  
Bea’s pointed stare transformed into a cheeky toothy grin at once. “Yep. Already got it. Got it when you slept.”   
She held the clunky plastic monkey by it’s neck and shook it so it jiggled at Mae. “Munchy Monkey’s true treasure.”

“Preach to that.” Mae agreed, putting the monkey on top of the postcard on the table. She settled back against Bea for a moment and closed her eyes contentedly, almost purring. Bea stroked the cat’s velveteen ears gently. “C’mon, Bea.” Mae said after a moment, her voice gentle and relaxed. “Let’s go home.”  
~

 

As the two drove back to Possum Springs, the sun was setting just ahead of them. The calm orange rays blazed through and illuminated the RV, bathing it in a calm, warm sea. Bea shifted in her seat as she switched gears. Her hand on the gearstick was met by Mae’s paw. Mae squeezed affectionately. Bea glanced up at her and melted into an affectionate smile. 

“You know..” The reptile began thoughtfully. “This… didn’t go how I expected it to.”

_It didn’t? Shit. Fuck._ A seed of worry grew and blossomed instantly in the deepest, soggiest pit of Mae’s stomach. “Oh?” She said, trying to keep her voice neutral even though it squirmed with nerves. 

“Woah!” Bea said instantly, concern flooding into her voice. She must have detected Mae’s uneasiness. “Not, not that it was bad, Mae, really!” She flustered, her eyes widening. Finally, the crocodile got a grip of herself and sighed. “I thought it was going to be bad. You know.” Coughing, she raised her voice to a higher, more youthful pitch that matched Mae’s. “Criiiimes, Bea! Shoplift with me! Shoot things! Smash the shit outta things!”

“I do that stuff with Gregg, not you!” Mae protested. “Besides. You can’t deny the shoplifting wasn’t fun.” she urged, grinning. The anxiety had calmed immensely now.

Bea hesitated, remembering the shoplifting they did at URevolution. Even just remembering the memory gave Bea a little thrill; like a jolt of electricity charging her head to foot. She remembered the itching, tickling butterflies of nervousness that set in her stomach when she stuffed the stolen trinkets into her dress pocket - and how the butterflies stayed there every time she went back and the (hot) cashier glared at her from behind glimmering pink eyelids.   
\- On second thought, Bea might have just had a tiny crush on the hot cashier -  
“Fine. I take it back.” the crocodile agreed. “But, y’know. I thought we’d be stranded in some field somewhere. Either fucking, doing drugs, or dead.”

“I mean…” Mae’s grin intensified. “There’s still time for that.”

“No, Mae. We are not fucking in a field.” Bea said bluntly. 

“How’d you know I meant that?” Mae pointed out. But she agreed nonetheless and stated to laugh. “What kinda sex weirdos have sex outdoors, anyway?” she mused. 

“Sex weirdos?” Bea repeated, spluttering with disbelief. “‘Kinky people’, Mae, the word you are looking for is, ‘kinky people’.”

“You’re not kinky?” Mae asked coyly after a moment of silence. Without even pausing for thought, and simply narrowing her eyes slyly, Bea murmured

“That’s for you to find out, isn’t it?”

Mae’s entire body grew red like a thermometer. She shifted and hesitated, trying to formulate a response. Bea was just satisfied that she had the upper hand.

“Where would we even have sex?” Mae blurted out nervously, wringing her paws. “Your Dad’s always at home. My parents work odd shifts…”

“Knowing you, somewhere abandoned.” Bea sarcastically offered. “The Food Donkey.”

Mae caught on, and giggled. “Behind the Clik Clak.”

“The Party Barn.”

“Pastabilities.”

“Pastabilities is closed.” Bea pointed out. She pulled to a stop at a red light and shrugged, giving Mae a mischievous smile. “Never mind.” She said, kissing the feline’s still-warm cheek. “I’ll just keep taking a loan out on the company RV…”   
The crocodile’s voice was slow and gently teasing. She had pulled away from Mae’s cheek to speak, but not enough; her cool breath made Mae’s fur twitch. 

“And, y’know. We can go on a lot more roadtrips.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... that is it. Ten fluffy chapters of MaeBea goodness for ao3... all finished. 
> 
> I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it - and reading back your comments afterwards!   
> Special mention goes to asrielfan, mirrormystic and of course my favourite coconut yog pal, glassfloors. :-)
> 
> See, if I had the time to fully flesh this out, there would be more in terms of plot. I feel like, if I didn't initially plan for this to be a oneshot, this would be a slow burner. I would've definitely fleshed out Mae and Bea's relationship a lot more too; had them come to terms with actually being gay and in love with one another (and their parents' reaction to this) and using the roadtrip as a catalyst for their relationship. Then, I would've gone into the nitty gritty; drama, breakups, and their first time. A sex scene is one thing I really regret not putting in here, actually, I feel like I could've worked with it. I know the mechanics for lesbian sex (duh) but I'm not at the point where I can write anything sexual without it sounding pornographic or forced - which is a shame. 
> 
> \-- the problem here is, lads, that I learn best by experience and have only had one (online, ex) girlfriend so have not yet Done It and that I spend too much time pining over my online (ex) girlfriend that I haven't exactly found one I can actually Do It with. Oh, and there's the tiny issue that I'm like, barely out of the closet IRL. One foot, one foot is dangling out of the closet. Just not the rest of me! --
> 
> So that's where you come into all this, btw - woah, not that I'm asking any of you to be my girlfriend - but.. like. If you think I should write up some of that ^ minus the sex as a prequel, tell me! 
> 
> If you have an idea that you think would fit with this little AU/verse, feel free to suggest it to me. Hell, write it by yourself if you'd like to - I give my express permission for that, any works inspired by this fic are v. v. v. welcome. :)  
> (art, too!)
> 
> Chapter 10 Song: Uncle Kracker - Smile 
> 
> For every comment and kudos, I will put one body part outside of the closet. May be a toenail. May be an eyelash. May be the ripe pimple on my right cheek. Who knows. 
> 
> Oh, and fear not, kiddos. If you're worried that you'll miss my fics... I will soon return. I prefer not to tell people when and what I'm writing because then I find all enthusiasm for Writing the Thing goes out the window, but I WILL write more fluffy NITW shipfics. Some maebea, some grengus. 
> 
> you have all been wonderful.  
> xo


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